Brahms remained a firm friend and supporter of Clara Schumann, the gifted pianist and wife of Robert Schumann, after Robert's death, until her own death in 1896.
Compositional Technique
Brahms made four-hand piano arrangements of many of his orchestral, chamber, and vocal scores to make them more accessible to a wider audience.
Composer Biography
Johannes Brahms, born in Hamburg in 1833, was the son of a double-bass player and a seamstress, and spent his childhood in relative poverty.
Performer Biography
Silke-Thora Matthies and Christian Köhn, the pianists on this recording, formed a piano duo in 1986 and have won international prizes and performed widely.
Composition History
Robert Schumann, a prominent composer and critic, detected a promise of greatness in Brahms's music and declared him the long-awaited successor to Beethoven.
Composer Biography
As a child, Brahms's talent as a pianist was so developed that there was talk of him touring as a prodigy at the age of eleven.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Brahms was seen by his supporters, including critic Eduard Hanslick, as a champion of 'pure music' — music untrammelled by extra-musical associations — in contrast to the 'Music of the Future' promoted by Wagner and Liszt.
