Composer of the Week: Brahms

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

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): The Break-Up

Brahms Experience: Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

The Break-Up

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), The Break-Up

Exploring the lifelong friendship between Brahms and virtuoso violinist Joseph Joachim.

There's a rare glimpse at Joachim the composer, and Donald Macleod details how he and Brahms devastatingly fell out after Joachim's acrimonious divorce from his wife Amalie.

Donald Macleod explores the lifelong friendship between Brahms and the great violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim - and the music of genius that resulted.

Throughout his life, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) enjoyed the close friendship of two kindred musical spirits: the pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim. Yet whilst his relationship with the former is much-pored over - friends, colleagues, maybe lovers? - his deep musical connection with Joachim is often passed over. This week, Donald Macleod explores the adventures, trials and tribulations that Brahms and Joachim encountered through their four-decade-long association and the musical masterpieces for violin that resulted. Donald presents the three movements of the Violin Concerto across three days in three utterly beguiling, and very different, recordings by Vadim Gluzman, David Oistrakh and Janine Jansen; plus, Friday brings a complete performance of the often-overlooked Double Concerto for Violin and Cello. In between, we'll hear all three violin sonatas in their entirety and a host of jewels from Brahms' chamber output - plus a rare piano-duet performance of his First Symphony by the Duo Crommelynck, and on Friday, a guest appearance from Brahms and Joachim themselves.

Once upon a time, Joachim was considered as promising a composer as Brahms, before his genius at the violin consumed all his time. Today we get a rare glimpse at Joachim the composer, with his dazzling Second Violin Concerto, "in the Hungarian Style", before Donald Macleod details how he and Brahms devastatingly fell out after Joachim's acrimonious divorce from his wife Amalie.

Joseph Joachim
Violin Concerto No 2 in D Minor "in the Hungarian Style" (3rd mvt)
Christian Tetzlaff, violin
Danish National Orchestra
Thomas Dausgaard, conductor

Brahms
Hungarian Dance No 5 in G Minor
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
Lambert Orkis, piano

Brahms
Gestillte Sehnsucht, Op 91 No 1
Kathleen Ferrier, contralto
Maxim Gilbert, viola
Phyllis Spurr, piano

Brahms
Violin Sonata No 3 in D Minor, Op 108
Christian Tetzlaff, violin
Lars Vogt, piano

Brahms
Violin Concerto D Major, Op 77 (3rd mvt)
Janine Jansen, violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Antonio Pappano, conductor

Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Wales.

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

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 explores the lifelong friendship between Brahms and virtuoso Joseph Joachim

Donald Macleod explores the lifelong friendship between Brahms and the great violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim - and the music of genius that resulted.

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