The stature of Johannes Brahms among classical composers is well illustrated by his inclusion among the "Three Bs" triumvirate of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. Of all the major composers of the late Romantic era, Brahms was the one most attached to the Classical ideal as manifested in the music of Haydn, Mozart, and especially Beethoven; indeed, Hans von Bülow once characterized Brahms' Symphony No. 1 (1855-1876) as "Beethoven's Tenth." As aRead more youth, Brahms was championed by Robert Schumann as music's greatest hope for the future; as a mature composer, Brahms became for conservative musical journalists the most potent symbol of musical tradition, a stalwart against the "degeneration" represented by the music of Wagner and his school. Brahms' symphonies, choral and vocal works, chamber music, and piano pieces are imbued with strong emotional feeling, yet take shape according to a thoroughly considered structural plan.
The son of a double bassist in the Hamburg Philharmonic Society, Brahms demonstrated great promise from the beginning. He began his musical career as a pianist, contributing to the family coffers as a teenager by playing in restaurants, taverns, and even brothels. Though by his early twenties he enjoyed associations with luminaries like violinists Eduard Reményi and Joseph Joachim, the friend and mentor who was most instrumental in advancing his career was Schumann, who all but adopted him and became his most ardent partisan, and their esteem was mutual. Following Schumann's death in 1856, Brahms became the closest confidant and lifelong friend of the composer's widow, pianist and composer Clara Wieck Schumann. After a life of spectacular musical triumphs and failed loves (the composer was involved in several romantic entanglements but never wed), Brahms died of liver cancer on April 3, 1897.
In every genre in which he composed, Brahms produced works that have become staples of the repertory. His most ambitious work, the German Requiem (1863-1867), is the composer's singular reinterpretation of an age-old form. The four symphonies -- lushly scored, grand in scope, and deeply expressive -- are cornerstones of the symphonic literature. Brahms' concertos are, similarly, in a monumental, quasi-symphonic vein: the two piano concertos (1856-1859 and 1881) and the Violin Concerto (1878) call for soloists with both considerable technical skill and stamina. His chamber music is among the most sophisticated and exquisitely crafted of the Romantic era; for but a single example, his works that incorporate the clarinet (e.g., the Trio in A minor, Op. 114 and the two Sonatas, Op. 120), an instrument largely overlooked by his contemporaries, remain unsurpassed. Though the piano sonata never held for Brahms the same appeal it had for Beethoven (Brahms wrote three to Beethoven's 32), he produced a voluminous body of music for the piano. He showed a particular affinity for variations -- notably, on themes of Schumann (1854), Handel (1861), and Paganini (1862-1863) -- and likewise produced a passel of national dances and character pieces such as ballades, intermezzi, and rhapsodies. Collectively, these constitute one of the essential bodies of work in the realm of nineteenth century keyboard music. Read less
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 26486
Release Date: 10/11/2011
Number of Discs: 20
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Johannes Brahms,
Franz Joseph Haydn,
Franz Schubert
...
Performer:
Nathan Milstein,
Rudolf Firkusny
Conductor:
William Steinberg
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra,
Philharmonia Orchestra,
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Brilliant Classics
Catalog: 94096
Release Date: 06/28/2011
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Felix Mendelssohn
...
Performer:
Dmitri Sitkovetsky,
Jose-Luis Garcia,
Neil Black,
Giuliano Carmignola
...
Conductor:
Dmitri Sitkovetsky,
Carlo de Martini,
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky,
Kiril Kondrashin
...
Label: Supraphon Md
Catalog: 4055
Release Date: 05/24/2011
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Jean Sibelius,
Felix Mendelssohn,
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Václav Hudecek
Conductor:
Jiri Belohlávek
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Prague Symphony Orchestra,
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 07878
Release Date: 05/17/2011
Number of Discs: 21
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Béla Bartók,
Felix Mendelssohn,
Johannes Brahms
...
Performer:
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf,
Elisabeth Höngen,
Hans Hopf,
Otto Edelmann
...
Conductor:
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra,
Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra,
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
...
Label: Euroarts
Catalog: 2051954
Release Date: 04/26/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johannes Brahms,
Antonín Dvorák,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Gil Shaham
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Catalog: 902075
Release Date: 03/08/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Isabelle Faust,
Stefan Fehlandt,
Julia Maria Kretz,
Pauline Sachse
...
Conductor:
Daniel Harding
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Label: Ica Classics
Catalog: 5012
Release Date: 02/22/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Johannes Brahms,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
David Oistrakh
Conductor:
Sir Colin Davis,
Kiril Kondrashin,
Yehudi Menuhin
Orchestra/Ensemble:
English Chamber Orchestra,
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Opus Kura
Catalog: 2091
Release Date: 01/11/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Robert Schumann,
Johannes Brahms,
Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Georg Kulenkampff
Conductor:
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt,
Arthur Rother
Recommendation
Label: Helicon
Catalog: 9625
Release Date: 12/07/2010
Number of Discs: 12
Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Gioachino Rossini,
Giuseppe Verdi,
Ludwig van Beethoven
...
Performer:
Radu Lupu,
Arie Vardi,
Yefim Bronfman,
Alicia De Larrocha
...
Conductor:
Zubin Mehta
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra,
Prague Philharmonic Choir,
Scottish National Chorus
...
Label: Euroarts
Catalog: 2058228
Release Date: 10/26/2010
Number of Discs: 5
Composer:
Robert Schumann,
Felix Mendelssohn,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Richard Strauss
...
Performer:
Martha Argerich,
Frank-Michael Erben,
Gil Shaham
Conductor:
Riccardo Chailly,
Kurt Masur,
Hartmut Haenchen,
Giuseppe Sinopoli
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra,
C.P.E. Bach Chamber Orchestra,
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Teldec
Catalog: 81031
Release Date: 10/26/2010
Number of Discs: 15
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Michael Haydn,
Franz Joseph Haydn
...
Performer:
Thomas Zehetmair,
Tabea Zimmermann,
Pierre-Laurent Aimard,
Clemens Hagen
...
Conductor:
Thomas Zehetmair,
Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
Christoph Eschenbach,
Christoph von Dohnányi
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra,
Cleveland Orchestra,
German Chamber Philharmonic
...
Recommendation
Label: Decca
Catalog: 001479902
Release Date: 10/19/2010
Number of Discs: 7
Composer:
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Claudio Arrau,
Henryk Szeryng,
János Starker
Conductor:
Bernard Haitink
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 31770
Release Date: 10/12/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Antonín Dvorák,
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Itzhak Perlman
Conductor:
Daniel Barenboim,
Carlo Maria Giulini
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Philharmonic Orchestra,
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Tahra
Catalog: 684
Release Date: 03/09/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Jean Sibelius,
Ernest Chausson,
Johannes Brahms,
Ludwig van Beethoven
...
Performer:
Ginette Neveu
Conductor:
Walter Susskind,
Charles Munch,
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt,
Hans Rosbaud
Label: Supraphon
Catalog: 4015
Release Date: 02/23/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
David Oistrakh
Conductor:
Karel Ancerl,
Antonio Pedrotti
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Emi Seraphim
Catalog: 68526
Release Date: 01/28/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Yehudi Menuhin
Conductor:
Rudolf Kempe,
Rafael Kubelik,
Carlo Maria Giulini
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,
New Philharmonia Orchestra
...
Recommendation
Label: Euroarts
Catalog: 2051958
Release Date: 01/26/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Antonín Dvorák,
Johannes Brahms,
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Gil Shaham
Conductor:
Claudio Abbado
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra