If you are not familiar with the German-born composer Johannes Brahms then this article might be for you. What I am aiming to do is provide a snapshot of a selection of compositions by Brahms by way of an introduction to his oeuvre.
Brahms was quite a prolific composer of his time with four symphonies to his name, an impressive list of chamber works, many, many songs and choral works and two piano concertos.
Minutes That Will Love Brahms
1. Symphony No. 4 (Op.98) by Johannes Brahms
I have chosen quite deliberately to begin towards the end of Brahms’s life when his voice as a composer was fully established and when he was a master of his art. Brahms especially during the early part of his life felt overshadowed by the colossal figure of Ludwig van Beethoven.
This is largely acknowledged by Brahms enthusiasts and experts to have delayed the composer writing his first symphony until 1876 with the opus number 68.
The Fourth Symphony is a stunningly crafted work. Brahms demonstrates in just the first minute of the opening movement his consummate skill with melodic writing. Here we find Brahms’s voice, assured, rigorous and elegant.
In this symphony, Brahms demonstrates a complete mastery of form, underpinned by his musical language. Beethoven has been laid to rest.
The key of E minor for this opening movement brings a slight melancholy coupled with the gentle fall and rise of the first theme. Brahms’ orchestration is rich and meticulously planned to bring colour and depth to the musical material.
To me, the first few minutes of the Fourth Symphony provide a first-class entry point into the music of Brahms as it contains so many of the characteristics that were developing in earlier works.
2. Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor (Op. 15)
This magnificent concerto, some say the finest ever written, was Brahms’s first foray into a large-scale work for the piano. I have chosen to start the link above at the point in the first movement when the piano enters following the exposition by the orchestra.
Why, because on a personal level I believe we hear something that is uniquely Brahms. Perhaps it is how the piano makes this first entry. What makes it particularly special is that it is the first time we hear the tonic chord of D minor made clear.
This piano also seems to calm the troubled spirit of the orchestra in a way that only Brahms could compose.
3. Hungarian Dance No.5 in G minor
Folk music played a key role in many aspects of Brahms’s music. Not only did the rhythms and melodies of folk music colour and drive his compositions but the very spirit of the gipsies seems to be deeply entrenched in the music of Brahms.
The Hungarian dances are, of course, no exception. Brahms composed a set of 21 dances, that were completed in 1879. They are each as distinctive as the next and originally scored for one piano, four hands; a popular combination at the time Brahms was writing.
The one I have selected is the fifth that Brahms wrote in G minor. In the performance linked above the remarkable pianist Lang Lang together with his equally polished wife Gina Alice present a blistering account of the work that neatly encapsulates the spirit of Brahms and his devotion to folk music.
The music is full of lively foot-tapping rhythms that propel the piece forwards topped by inspired melodies. They became amongst Brahms’s best-selling music in his lifetime.
4. ‘Four Serious Songs’ Op. 121
This song cycle is one of the last works Brahms composed. They were completed in Vienna in 1896. Originally Brahms intended them to be for a bass voice and piano but many other versions have been successfully recorded.
Brahms drew on the Old Testament of The Bible for the text with three of the songs meditations on death the fourth from the New Testament, more hopeful.
His close friend Clara Schumann had suffered a severe stroke I the year these songs were finished and it is with a great degree of certainty that her imminent passing was foremost in Brahms’s heart and mind.
These songs not only illustrate Brahms to be a great craftsman in the art of the lieder but show a darker, desolate facet of his work. Brahms wrote many songs however these are an exquisite example of late Brahms; impeccably balanced and expressive.
5. Piano Quintet in F Minor Op. 34
Many would support Josef Joachim’s sentiment that this quintet by Brahms was “a piece of the greatest significance”. Even at this early stage of Brahms’s career, his creative ingenuity shines through.
Each of the four movements is brimming with vibrant harmonies, intricate textures and compelling rhythmic interplay. The clip above highlights the third of four movements marked ‘Scherzo: Allegro’.
I have chosen it as it contains a generous assembly of Brahmsian attributes from hemiola through to fiercely passionate melodies.
6. Klavierstüske Op.119
Throughout his life, Brahms wrote and played the piano. Towards the end of his life, his love affair with the piano had not diminished.
I have picked out the Op.119 selection as if we are attempting to single out music that is very typically Brahms then here is where we must pause for reflection. This collection of works was completed in 1893. They were his final piano pieces along with the Op.118 set.
It is extremely challenging to settle on a single one of these four pieces as each offer an essential window into Brahms. The opening ‘Intermezzo’ (three of the pieces Brahms gave this title to, the last he called a ‘Rhapsody’), that is in the key of B minor, holds a special place in my heart.
Poetic, heartfelt and melancholy permeate this work. It is delicately formed and beautifully fragile, yet the intensity Brahms creates in such a brief composition is remarkable.
7. Ein detsches Requiem Op.45 (A German Requiem)
The Requiem was composed between 1865 and 1868 and unusually is not in Latin, but German, Brahms’s mother tongue.
Many arguments surround the reasons why Brahms composed this work but the tragic death of his friend and mentor Robert Schumann in 1856, followed ten years later by his Mother are sure to have set ideas in motion.
The Requiem is crafted into seven movements. Again, on a personal level, the second (‘For all flesh, it is as grass’), of these is where I hear Brahms most closely.
Perhaps there is pathos here, maybe the sense of something profound, but the aching passion is powerfully conveyed. Brahms the songwriter unites with Brahms the symphonist in a display of open humanity.