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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Composer of the Week: Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Episode 1: Brahms the Romantic

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Episode 1

Episode 1: Brahms the Romantic

Brahms the Romantic

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Brahms the Romantic

Donald Macleod focuses on Brahms's vocal music written when he was a young man.

Donald Macleod focuses on Brahms's vocal music written when he was a young man, when he fell under the spell of Romanticism.

German 19th century composer Johannes Brahms is perhaps best known for his orchestral and chamber music, but he was also a prolific writer of vocal works. This week, Donald Macleod focuses his attention on music for the voice in all its guises, including some of Brahms's unjustly neglected folksongs, lieder, vocal quartets and choral works.
As a young man, Brahms, like many of his contemporaries, fell under the spell of Romanticism and all the heady literature that erupted in that era. In those formative years, he had the opportunity to work with two choirs which enabled him not only to hone his conducting skills, but to develop his craft as a composer. During this time he produced a stream of choral works including three a cappella part-songs full of romantic images; a group of colourful choral songs for the unusual combination of women's voices, two horns and a harp and, at the other emotional extreme, an intense funeral song with dark-hued accompaniment from wind and timpani.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod presents an exploration of the life and vocal music of Johannes Brahms

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Composer of the Week

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Episode 1: Brahms the Romantic

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