Brahms' arrangement of the first ten Hungarian Dances for solo piano is surprisingly far less known than the popular orchestrations. Andre Gorog performs this unique Brahms piece featuring the Handel Variations.

Brahms' first mentioned the Requiem in a letter to Clara Schumann in which he wrote that he intended the piece to be a sort of German Requiem. Although the Requiem Mass in Roman Catholic liturgy begins with prayers for the dead, A German Requiem focuses on the living, beginning with the text "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."

This disc of works by Brahms was recorded during the height of COVID restrictions whereby social distancing in studios was a requirement for British orchestras, representing huge challenges for both performers and recording engineers alike. The recording is a tribute to the indefatigable efforts of our conductor, musicians, producer Michael Ponder and sound engineer Adaq Khan and the supportive staff at Henry Wood Hall, all who managed to keep the candle burning for music and musicians when almost all artistic activity fell silent.

This collection of three Sonatas for cello and piano comprises works that appeared between 1865-6 and 1886 by composers who were colleagues. If their personal association varied between genuine friendship and mere acquaintance, each became a significant figure in the era approaching the zenith of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Praised as “one of the most important young pianists of today” by International Piano, Sabine Weyer showed an exceptional musical talent since her earliest childhood. Following her initial training at the Conservatoire of Esch-Alzette in Luxembourg, she studied at pianistic schools in France, Belgium, United Kingdom under the guidance of, amongst others, Bernard Lerouge (CRR Metz, France), Vassil Guenov (Belgium), Aleksandar Madzar (Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, Belgium), Rustem Hayroudinoff (Royal Academy of Music, London, UK). Since 2015 Sabine Weyer has been professor for piano at the Conservatoire de la Ville de Luxembourg, fulfilling her desire to pass on musical knowledge to younger generations. As a pedagogue, she has been invited to teach at masterclasses abroad including at the Scriabine Summer Academy in Italy, the Beijing Normal University in China and the European Summer Music Academy in Djakova/Kosovo.

Dimitri Maslennikov began his musical studies at the age of five. At 11 years old, he won the International Soloists Competition in Moscow and the Czech International Competition in Prague. He was a winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition and the Rostropovitch Competition. At the age of 14, he received a three-year scholarship from the French government to study at the Paris Conservatory where he attained First Prize. He has been championed by maestro Christoph Eschenbach and has performed with the NDR Hamburg Orchestra, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, with whom he has made a ‘live’ recording.

We are proud to present the fifth disc by Nino Gvetadze on Challenge Classics. After Chopin, Scott, Schumann and Beethoven, we get to Brahms. Nino has selected three masterpieces from three different periods of Brahms's life. Schumann's disc (CC 72855): BBC Music Magazine:"This is, quite simply, gorgeous." Gramophone:"Gvetadze's sensitivity to Schumann's vaunted 'inner voices' is unsurpassed"

The year 1860 represented a turning-point in Brahms's life: he issued a 'Manifesto' in which he distanced himself from the Romanticism of the 'New German School' epitomised by Liszt and their association with Wagner's music-dramas. This aesthetic change of heart placed an emphasis on hard work and craftsmanship rather than the more Romantic conception of inspiration, with Brahms taking a particular pride in being both German and a self-made man. This ethos is reflected in the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24. Brahms's two Rhapsodies, Op. 79 were composed in 1879 and were dedicated to his friend Elisabet von Herzogenberg. The title may lull the listener into a false sense of whimsy, when in reality these pieces are founded on clear structural designs. Three Intermezzos Op. 117: Brahms wrote of these three Intermezzos to his friend Rudolf von der Leyen, describing them as 'Wiegenlieder meiner Schmerzen': 'lullabies of my sorrow'. Each has the character of a soliloquy or introspective personal reflection.

Nino Gvetadze about this album:"Throughout his life, Brahms was influenced by those he admired: the musicians he idolized, and the women with whom he formed powerful bonds. Clara Schumann represented both, and Nino Gvetadze explores their fascinating dynamic in The Muse. Brahms's Two Rhapsodies Op. 79 were dedicated to Elisabet von Herzogenberg, whose loss he mourned in the Intermezzos Op. 117; and he was inspired by Handel to write a phenomenal set of Variations dedicated to Clara Schumann – whose Op. 21 Romances date from a time that neither she nor Brahms would ever forget."

The genre accompanied him for almost his entire creative period: the 23-year-old Johannes Brahms wrote the Sacred Choral Song op. 30 in 1856, the Five Songs for mixed chorus a cappella are his late legacy in the field of secular choral song, written between 1886 and 1888. In between are the Three Songs, written at a time when Brahms was also very practically occupied with choral singing as a choral conductor, then the Seven Songs for four- to eight-part choir and finally his large-scale Motte op. 74, No. 1 Warum ist das Licht gegeben from 1877 and its sister work O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf op. 74 No. 2. In the course of more than 30 years, the composer shows a fascinating development, which - of course always in the most demanding facture - leads from romantic opulence of the six- to eight-part movement to rather reduced austerity. Chorwerk Ruhr traces this development with fascinating intensity.

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The shadow of Johann Sebastian Bach looms large over the few compositions for organ by Johannes Brahms which escaped their composer's destructive hand around 1880. Several date back to Brahms' youth when in 1856 he studied the organ in Dusseldorf as a self-taught player. They also show the influence of the contrapuntal writing which had been his daily bread when he was hard at his craft as an apprentice composer. The other works for the instrument belong to Brahms' mature years when he plumbed the depths of the spiritual. On this release, Johannes Brahms' organ works are performed by Italian organist, conductor, and musicologist Arturo Sacchetti. Sacchetti studied at the Conservatorio di Milano. He has given more than 2,300 concerts as a choral conductor, orchestral conductor, organist, harpsichord, and pianist. He has performed in public the complete works of Bach, Buxtehude, Mozart, Telemann, and others, and has made no less than 150 recordings.

I'm very happy,' remarks Michael Volle in a booklet interview accompanying this reissue, which gathers together the three albums of Brahms Lieder he made in the spring of 2007. 'Normally if you listen to a recording you would like to redo it immediately, because you discover so many mistakes or things you would have done better. But this one, it's OK. Recordings will not always make money or sell a lot of discs, but for an artist, they can be a wonderful memory of a certain period in your life. ' For Klassik. Com, these recordings were deemed a 'beautiful achievement': especially in 'Es tr�umte mir' and 'Unbewegte laue Luft' Op. 57 Nos. 3 and 8: as exciting as it is atmospheric, reaching a climax of subtly varied timbre in the Vier ernste Ges�nge. Volle also scores highly in Die sch�ne Magelone. ' Volle is joined here by his brother Hartmut for the recitation of Tieck's complementary prose text, which many recordings omit. Klassik. Com also drew particular attention to the sympathetic partnership of Volle with the mezzo-soprano Stephanie Ir�nyi and Volle, 'perfectly coordinated' in the Four Duets Op. 28 and a selection from the Deutsche Volkslieder WoO33, from which Brahms took particular pleasure late in life. Volle's 'warm, sympathetic baritone' (Gramophone) and personal conviction illuminate all the repertoire here, which is drawn from throughout the composer's song-writing career. 'When I sing Brahms,' reflects Volle, 'I feel the deep musicality and also humanity and maybe also unfulfilled love he was looking for. Like Schubert he puts his feelings in the music and it takes everything from me when I do it. For me he's a really great Lieder composer.

This is a new installment of SWR CLASSIC-series dedicated to Hans Rosbaud. It contains all the recordings the Austrian conductor made for the SWR, some of them being for the first time released on modern recording technology. The recordings were made shortly (days!) before his death. Both Piano Concertos are interpreted by famous pianists of the 20th century: Walter Gieseking and Géza Anda, Gramophone recently remarked that Rosbaud "was one of the unsung heroes of mid-20th-century music, who ... gave thoroughly rehearsed and assimilated performances and premieres of the widest possible range of music". In Fanfare, Peter J. Rabinowitz pointed to range of his sympathies, claiming it was "greater than that of just about any of his contemporaries except perhaps Bernstein, Scherchen, and Stokowski. Rosbaud is best remembered, probably, for his Mahler, his Bruckner, his work with the Second Vienna School ... and especially his commitment to the post-war avant-garde…”

Brahms: Piano works

Following two releases featuring Schubert, Shostakovich, and Beethoven, the Aris Quartet, one of the leading award-winning chamber music ensembles of recent years, has put Johannes Brahms on the program of its third GENUIN album. Included are two key works of the chamber music literature of the 19th century: The String Quartet in C minor, dating from the early period of maturity, is characterized by how the composer dealt with personal losses and how he overcame great doubts. The Clarinet Quintet is one of Brahms' last works ever. A swan song to his oeuvre, perhaps even to Romanticism in general. Enchantingly beautiful playing by a magnificent ensemble!

For his series called Schubert+, pianist Can Çakmur juxtaposes the complete major piano solo compositions by the Viennese composer with works by other composers who were inspired by his music, thus providing the opportunity to see these works in a new light. While making up a near complete anthology of Schubert’s completed major piano music, each disc is also intended as a selfcontained recital.

In this second instalment, Çakmur performs pieces published after Schubert’s death, the three Klavierstucke, D 946, which are not known to have been intended as a new series of impromptus. Since their first editor was Brahms, it seemed logical to include one of his late cycle of miniatures, here the Vier Klavierstucke, Op. 119. The pieces by Schubert and Brahms share a spontaneity, even an apparent lightness, that often conceals an unsuspected depth beneath the surface. The programme concludes with the Four Impromptus, D 935, an ambitious cycle also published after Schubert’s death. Schubert’s name would become closely associated with this genre, often characterised by a lyrical melody and a free-flowing structure, with a sense of spontaneity. With it, Schubert seems to have found an ideal setting for the expression of his genius.

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