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: Warner Classics
Catalog: 18432
Release Date: 03/22/2011
Number of Discs: 13
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Johannes Brahms,
Carl Maria von Weber,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
...
Performer:
Claudio Arrau
Conductor:
Alceo Galliera,
Carlo Maria Giulini
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philharmonia Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Ica Classics
Catalog: 5003
Release Date: 02/22/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johannes Brahms,
Frédéric Chopin,
Manuel de Falla
Performer:
Artur Rubinstein
Conductor:
Christoph von Dohnányi
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Ica Classics
Catalog: 5013
Release Date: 02/22/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johannes Brahms,
Frédéric Chopin,
Franz Liszt
Performer:
Garrick Ohlsson
Conductor:
James Loughran
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Label: Rca
Catalog: 24693
Release Date: 02/17/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Henryk Szeryng,
Sviatoslav Richter
Conductor:
Pierre Monteux,
Erich Leinsdorf,
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Symphony Orchestra,
Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
Boston Symphony Orchestra
...
Label: Praga
Catalog: 350054
Release Date: 02/08/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johannes Brahms,
Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yakov Zak
Conductor:
Kurt Sanderling
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra,
USSR Radio/TV Large Symphony Orchestra
Label: Zyx Records
Catalog: 10105
Release Date: 11/19/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johannes Brahms,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performer:
Vladimir Horowitz,
Pablo Casals,
Mieczyslaw Horszowski,
Shura Cherkassky
Conductor:
Arturo Toscanini,
Leopold Ludwig,
Richard Kraus
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: Warner Classics
Catalog: 29499
Release Date: 09/14/2010
Number of Discs: 12
Composer:
Johannes Brahms,
Franz Schubert,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
...
Performer:
Edwin Fischer,
Ronald Smith,
Denis Matthews,
Raymond Clark
...
Conductor:
Wilhelm Furtwängler,
Edwin Fischer,
Josef Krips,
Lawrence Collingwood
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
Philharmonia Orchestra,
London Philharmonic Orchestra
...
Recommendation
Label: Orfeo
Catalog: 810102
Release Date: 07/27/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Konstantin Lifschitz
Conductor:
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Concert House Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Opus Arte
Catalog: 1022
Release Date: 03/30/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Isaac Albeniz,
Frédéric Chopin,
Alexander Scriabin,
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Joaquín Achúcarro
Conductor:
Sir Colin Davis
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Symphony Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Opus Arte
Catalog: 7054
Release Date: 03/30/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Isaac Albeniz,
Alexander Scriabin,
Frédéric Chopin,
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Joaquín Achúcarro
Conductor:
Sir Colin Davis
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Symphony Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Decca
Catalog: 001313402
Release Date: 08/25/2009
Number of Discs: 5
Composer:
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Henryk Szeryng,
János Starker,
Claudio Arrau
Conductor:
Bernard Haitink,
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Label: Arts Music
Catalog: 43081
Release Date: 06/09/2009
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johannes Brahms,
Robert Schumann
Performer:
Artur Rubinstein
Conductor:
André Cluytens,
Franco Caracciolo
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra Turin,
Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra Naples
Label: Brilliant Classics
Catalog: 9014
Release Date: 06/02/2009
Number of Discs: 25
Composer:
Sergei Prokofiev,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Dmitri Kabalevsky,
Franz Liszt
...
Performer:
Rudolf Kerer,
Konstantin Igumnov,
Yakov Flier,
Vladimir Horowitz
...
Conductor:
Alexander Gauk,
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky,
David Oistrakh,
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Orchestra,
USSR Radio/TV Symphony Orchestra,
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
...
Label: Decca
Catalog: 001268202
Release Date: 03/31/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Clifford Curzon
Conductor:
George Szell,
Hans Knappertsbusch
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Symphony Orchestra,
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Hänssler Classic
Catalog: 94208
Release Date: 03/10/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Frédéric Chopin,
Sergei Rachmaninov,
Robert Schumann,
Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Géza Anda
Conductor:
Ernest Bour,
Hans Rosbaud
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Baden-Baden Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra