The early 1890s saw the deaths of many of Brahms's close friends and family. Thoughts of his own mortality were clearly beginning to weigh on his mind and for some time he'd been talking about giving up composing altogether. But an encounter with the clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld changed all that. Brahms was so impressed by the silken beauty of Mühlfeld's playing he was inspired to begin composing again. Donald Macleod introduces works from the final decade of Brahms's life including an extract from his clarinet quintet, a group of his finest part-songs for unaccompanied chorus and his four profound meditations on death. Show less