Brahms's Variations, Op. 21, published in 1861, are significant examples of his personal piano style, focusing on variations of harmony and rhythm rather than brilliant display.
Performer Biography
Erik Sedén, a baritone on this album, is recognized as one of Sweden's finest singers and major character actors, having created a hundred different opera roles.
Composition History
Brahms's Vier ernste Gesänge (Four Serious Songs) were completed before Clara Schumann's death in 1896, influenced by a series of deaths among his close friends between 1892 and 1895.
Composition History
Brahms composed his Magelone Lieder, Op. 33, between 1861 and 1868, making it the larger of only two song cycles in his extensive output for voice and piano.
Composer's Artistic Vision
In Brahms's compositions, death is often portrayed as a liberator, inspiring mild melancholy rather than terror or despair, as seen in the third of the Four Serious Songs.
Performer Biography
Walton Grönroos, a baritone on this album, is the current director of the Finnish National Opera and had a successful career at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin.
Compositional Technique
A characteristic feature of Brahms's variation style, exemplified in Op. 21, is that the metre of the main theme remains unchanged throughout the entire work.
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