Brahms's masterpieces. Popular classical music.
Here are some recommended works from the many masterpieces left by the German composer Johannes Brahms.
If you get to know Brahms—hailed as one of the “Three Bs” of German music alongside Bach and Beethoven—you’ll be well on your way to becoming a classical music connoisseur.
His Symphony No.
1, composed with deep respect for Beethoven, was so strongly influenced by him that the conductor of its premiere, Hans von Bülow, famously called it “Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony.”
Please enjoy the world of Brahms, which continues to be cherished by classical music fans today.
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Brahms’s masterpieces. Popular classical music (101–110)
Capriccio, Op. 76 No. 1Johannes Brahms
This is Capriccio No.
2 by Brahms, one of the German Three Bs.
Ivo Pogorelić is a pianist from Belgrade, in the former Yugoslavia.
Known as a “heretic,” he has a variety of legendary episodes, and that iconoclasm is evident in his performances as well—unconventional interpretations that reveal new facets of the music.
Song of RainJohannes Brahms
This piece was composed in Pörtschach, a summer resort on the shores of Lake Wörthersee in southern Austria.
When you feel like escaping Japan’s sticky, oppressive heat, it’s the perfect time to listen to a work written in a summer retreat.
Try listening while imagining a cool lakeside scene.
Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, Op. 102Johannes Brahms
Composed in 1887, this is a double concerto featuring violin and cello as solo instruments.
Though symphonic in scope, it is considered a difficult work that demands double stops from the soloists.
After completing his Fourth Symphony in 1886—his final symphony—Brahms had been contemplating a Fifth.
Around the same time, he had fallen out with his longtime friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim.
Wishing to mend their strained relationship, Brahms tried to compose with Joachim’s advice.
There is an anecdote that this desire led him to shift his idea from a symphony to a concerto.
In conclusion
What did you think? To us, Brahms is a great composer, but he himself disliked being treated as a “great composer,” and at the same time seems to have been a perfectionist.
Perhaps that is why his works, though rigorous, sometimes reveal a passionate and gentle side.
He greatly influenced later composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, the founder of twelve-tone technique, and the late-Romantic Franz Schmidt, and his impact still reaches us today.
Beyond his orchestral works, please also listen to his pieces for piano, chamber ensembles, and songs.