Amazon.com
The brilliant biographer of a quintessentially American, prototypically modern musician (Charles Ives)proves just as masterful in probing the life and art of a 19th-century German composer. Writing with passionate clarity that perfectly matches the genius of Brahms (1833-97), Jan Swafford traces the emotional wellsprings of this secretive man's music without trivializing art into mere autobiography. A composer himself, Swafford understands and lucidly conveys Brahms's unique position in musical history: beloved by many, emulated by few, the triumphant yet melancholy heir of a tradition coming to an end in his lifetime.Book Description
A New York Times Notable Book

"This brilliant and magisterial book is a very good bet to...become the definitive study of Johannes Brahms."--The Plain Dealer

Judicious, compassionate, and full of insight into Brahms's human complexity as well as his music, Johannes Brahms is an indispensable biography.

Proclaimed the new messiah of Romanticism by Robert Schumann when he was only twenty, Johannes Brahms dedicated himself to a long and extraordinarily productive career.  In this book, Jan Swafford sets out to reveal the little-known Brahms, the boy who grew up in mercantile Hamburg and played piano in beer halls among prostitutes and drunken sailors, the fiercely self-protective man who thwarted future biographers by burning papers, scores and notebooks late in his life.  Making unprecedented use of the remaining archival material, Swafford offers richly expanded perspectives on Brahms's youth, on his difficult romantic life--particularly his longstanding relationship with Clara Schumann--and on his professional rivalry with Lizst and Wagner.  

"[Johannes Brahms] will no doubt stand as the definitive work on Brahms, one of the monumental biographies in the entire musical library."--London Weekly Standard

"It is a measure of the accomplishment of Jan Swafford's biography that Brahms's sadness becomes palpable.... [Swafford] manages to construct a full-bodied human being."--The New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

... was it a real love??....

I wonder how Brahms would have compensated for the defeat to his friend's wife - Clara Schumann. Although lively attention to details was a notable characteristic of the German woman lover, pianist and composer, her indifference to the sentiments of her husband - the German composer Robert Schumann - was so shallow as to miscalculate Robert's perturbation with her lover's apathy.
How could Brahms, having degenerated to low stage, get over the perfidy of such relationship with the woman who was fourteen years his senior (and who also raised seven children)? Such polyandrous practice was not customary in Germany and both lovers must have become impetuous when they, again, met with indecision of purpose.
Was it bigamy? Or sheer adultery? Did it really matter to Brahms who, at least, cared for Clara's husband and his friend's illness? Was Clara prematurely getting old marking her life by irrational thoughts? Or was it the agnostic Brahms believing in nothing?
Brahms gave us medley of music; conscious of the shadow of the dead Robert, Ein Deutsches Requiem {1867/8} is one that represented heavenly masterpiece as if to seek pardon in humble supplications like the sinner who renounces lifelong bad habits when in extremity of pain.

A richly rewarding read
What a wonderful biography. Brahms' dealings with Clara Schumann, Joachim, and other friends is studied in fascinating detail through meetings and letters -- an intimate portrait of personal relations, desires and fears, quiet joys and resentments, etc., all as absorbing as a Henry James novel.

Meanwhile, Brahms' incomparable music is a life of its own, and we are treated to the master's views of it, as well as those of contemporaries and the author. The author's assessments seem to me almost unerringly valid. (Take, for example, his lofty praise of Gesang der Parzen, an underheard choral masterwork, or his concession that the Double Concerto, a concert standard, is on a less than inspired level.)

Add to this the author's occasional shift of focus to the Austro-German culture in which Brahms lived, in retrospect an even more remarkable time and place, where music was valued to a rare degree, and where ideas and events -- artistic, philosophical, political -- were poised to take momentous turns. Fascinating, even haunting, stuff, and all the more appropriate for discussion as these were issues about which Brahms had much concern in his later years.

Great story about a great composer
This is a great story about a great composer.The book tells his life story, and highlights many of his great works.Within this biography, the book also mentions the interactions, disagreements and perspectives of the different composers of the late 19th century - Liszt, Wagner, Schumann, Bruckner, Mahler and of course Brahms.From that perspective, it is not only a biographry of Brahms but in some ways a history of classical music in that period.In my opinion, Brahms was the best composer of the group, and this book highlights why he was.It focuses on many of his great compositions, even providing the major musical notes for key parts of a composition.For example, in what is arguably his best work, the 4th symphony, this book spends four pages on the last movement of this symphony, a very powerful cantata and chaconne that Brahms brought to the symphony.This form, according to the book, derives from the Baroque period and Bach has a great similar work with the violin.Brahms took it a step further and using the whole capabilities of the symphony orchestra, weaves this concept into a very powerful piece of music.Since reading these four pages, I've developed a greater interest in this movement and in the 4th symphony in total.It is a beautiful powerful work and this book provides a beautiful perspective of this work.The same is true for all of the book.It has given me a better perspective of Brahms andclassical music.For this reason, I highly recommend this book.

A Magisterial--or Should I Say, Masterly?--Work of Biography
I have never heard a piece of music by composer Jan Swafford, but if he composes as well as he writes, his music should be stimulating indeed. Some reviewers have called this book hard to put down, a page-turner. I found it so. Part of its interest lies in Brahms himself; any book that purports to shed even a bit of light on so enigmatic a figure would cause one to turn pages in hopes of illumination. But I can imagine, too, a very dull book about Brahms. Well, there are few dull pages among the 600+ in Swafford's biography. As is now de rigueur in good modern historical writing, Swafford creates a judicious blend of primary-source material and commentary thereon, along with a rich store of anecdotes told in his own fine, writerly voice.

Musical analysis is treated in such a way that the amateur musician, and even the musically challenged, will not be put off. In all cases, Swafford demonstrates well one of his chief theses--that Brahms was the most Janus-like of the great nineteenth century composers. He looked back all the way to Renaissance masters, assimilating their contrapuntal styles in ways beyond anything that Beethoven, Mendelssohn, or Schumann had done before him. Yet he so thoroughly anticipated the ambiguity of tonality and rhythm in twentieth-century music that Schoenberg could, long after Brahms's death, speak of "Brahms the Progressive."

But there is much more than musical analysis in this book. There is a thorough investigation of the many dualities in Brahms's nature: Brahms the generous, Brahms the curmudgeonly; Brahms the respecter of (intellectual and artistic) women, Brahms the misogynist; Brahms the romantic, Brahms the classicist; Brahms the sentimentalist, Brahms the cynic; Brahms the self-effacing, Brahms the monumentally egotistical. Swafford presents them all in their staggering incompatibility. And while Swafford himself admits that no one can ever quite hope to reconcile all these manifestations or indeed fill in the gaps in a life that the composer himself hoped to keep mostly a closed book, he comes close to making this great study in contrasts that was Brahms into a flesh-and-blood individual whose most mystifying acts seem almost comprehensible because we have seen him in action in similar contexts. By an exhaustive examination of the primary literature and shrewd speculation based thereon, Swafford builds a picture that convinces. He can't make us always like Brahms or even sympathize with him, but we come to understand him better through Swafford's portrait than we ever thought we could. That is some accomplishment.

Beyond this are the passages in which Swafford speaks of musical and indeed cultural history after Brahms. The epilogue to this book, in which the author traces Brahms's paradoxical legacy through the great century of change since his death, should be mandatory reading for all students of culture in the West.

Are there flaws? Yes. Some parts of the book show haste while others show careful crafting. In a work this large, that is to be expected. And Swafford overuses the word "magisterial." This may describe Brahms to a tee, but so, I hope, do a few other adjectives. Small gripes? Small indeed, given the wealth of insight and reading pleasure that Swafford provides here. I'm ready for his biography of Ives!

I only wish there were more analysis on the concertos
Mr.Swafford did excellent jobs in dissecting and analyzing major symphonic works without sounding pedantic and dry.However, I wish he had invested more ink on the other major orchestral works such as Piano Concerto no.2 and the Violin Concerto, two of my favorites, like he did Piano Concerto no.1 and the symphonies and variations, etc.On the late concertos he merely described the circumstances surrounding their creation and barely touched on structural analysis.

Other than that, the book is very detailed and enjoyable to read.It sheds a lot of light on the human side of the composer and his friends, and thus makes these historical figures come back to life.At several instances I was so touched by Swafford's writing that I almost shed tears.Reading this book has been an emotional journey for me, and I rank it as my favorite book on music and musicians.Very touching!I love it! ... Read more

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Great German Romantics
Mention the word "romantic" to an organist and their mind instantly turns to France and composers like Widor and Franck.It's really a pity that German romantics get shortchanged in the modern repertoire.
Dover's rugged edition presents all of Brahms' works for organ, Mendelssohn's six Sonatas and three Preludes and Fugues, and Schumann's six Fugues on B-A-C-H.These pieces are readily playable on almost any instrument and are enjoyable to play.This book will make a great addition to any organist's library. ... Read more

Book Description
Includes the often performed and heard Intermezzi and Ballades, along with numerous sets of variations, waltzes, and other shorter works. A wide variety of lush, romantic piano music is contained within this volume. 41 selections on 192 pages. ... Read more

Book Description
The organ works of Johannes Brahms are a beautifully-crafted and much-cherished component of the repertoire of church and concert organists across the world. A central and long renowned figure in the organ field, Barbara Owen is proposing the first in-depth study of this corpus, considering Brahms's organ works in relation to his background, methods, and overall artistic development. Precisely because the collection of organ works is not extensive, the pieces--composed periodically throughout Brahms's lifetime--map his path as a composer, pinpointing various stages in his artistic development. Brahms's early preludes and fugues for the organ, for example, foreshadow his fascination with, and developing skills in, counterpoint, which surface notably in later motets, chamber works, and larger compositions such as the piano variations, Deutsches Requiem, and Fourth Symphony. The chorale preludes not only display a mastery of counterpoint, but a wealth of signature "Brahmsian" characteristics in miniature--carefully sculpted melodic lines, chained thirds, inversions, polyrhythms, hidden symbolism, and occasional hints of atonality. The Organ Music of Johannes Brahms offers a detailed examination of Brahms's contacts with organs and organists, and analyses of each specific work and its place in Brahms's career. The body of the manuscript is devoted to the history and analysis of Brahms's individual organ works and their interpretation, focusing on the importance of his predecessors and contemporaries in the composition and performance of these pieces. Blending unique insights into composition and performance practice, this book targets the large, intellectually-minded community of organists (20,000 members in the American Guild of Organists), and will be appreciated by performers, students, and scholars of the organ, Brahms, and Nineteenth Century music. ... Read more

Book Description
This book is the first comprehensive collection of the letters of Johannes Brahms ever to appear in English. Over 550 are included, virtually all uncut, and there are over a dozen published here for the first time in any language. Although he corresponded throughout his life with some of the great performers, composers, musicologists, writers, scientists, and artists of the day, and although thousands of his letters have survived, English readers have until now had scant opportunity to meet Brahms in person, through his own words, and in his own voice.'I am aware of my bad habit of writing briefly but obscurely', Brahms once wrote to a friend. He was needlessly hard on himself, for his letters describe many significant events in his life, throw light on his friendships and music, and reveal his wit, idealism, intelligence, generosity, sarcasm, and above all his powerful sense of integrity.The letters in this volume range from 1848 to just before his death. They include all Brahms's letters to Robert Schumann, over ahundred letters to Clara Schumann, and the complete Brahms-Wagner correspondence. They are joined by a running commentary to form an absorbing narrative, documented with scholarly care, provided with comprehensive notes, but written for the general music lover. The result is a lively biography. The work is generously illustrated, and contains several detailed appendices and an index. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Just Wonderful !!
I'v been a Brahms' music fan for a long time and i have read three different biographies, without having the opportunity of get closer to his thoughts before i buy this great book. Now I know how Brahms' mind worked, how (really) was his relationship with his friends and how were his feelings and thoughts during the periods he composed that wonderful music.

I'm not an english born speaker, so i had some difficulties in understand the meaning of some sentences, more exactly, some modisms, wich are very frecuent in Brahms' speech.

In spite of this, I recommend this book because it's just wonderful.

Wonderful translation, superb commentary
The virtues of this book are several: about 800 previously untranslated letters of Brahms, masterfully translated andcarefully and judiciously annotated, based on research entirely from source materials which, amongother things, give the lie to the unsavory myths of Brahms childhood,proving beyond doubt that he came from a hard-working, well-meaning familywho lived in a good neighborhood,and provided him with a good educationand normal childhood.The author's research confines to the rubbish heapthe sillyFreudian theories, never based on anyevidence, for his reasonsfor not marrying.This compendium of letters and their absorbingly written annotation is a gold mine for amateurs and professionals interestedin a truthful picture ofBrahms.

Excellent, comprehensive, and revealing.
Unfortunately, Jan Swafford did not have a chance to read this book before writing his own "biograohy" of Brahms.If he had, he would have been privy to a wealth of information, much of which has not been availableto non-german speakers.Avins' commentary on the letters of Brahms andmany of his correspondents is clear and well researched.

From recent reviews of: Johannes Brahms - Life and Letters
"Richly informative" - Sunday Times, London. "Occasionally a book comes along which changes perceptions of its subject.This is such a book. ... [The] annotations are not only scholarly but often witty and always full of common sense. ... Wherever you read, you will feel you are in Brahms's world and that he is speaking to you." - Sunday Telegraph, London. "There are many gems here ... much to be gleaned from what Avins has selected.. Those who seek to be on more intimate terms with Brahms and his circle... will find much to pore over in this collection" - Los Angeles Times. "Little short of a bombshell ... Ms. Avins's contributions are terse and often illuminating... fascinating illustrations, a helpful chronological table and other tools... Brahms reveals himself in workaday as well as transcendent moods." - New York Times. "This is a work that will thrill Brahms fans and provide much pleasure to those entertained by the personal correspondence of great artists.Recommended for general and academic libraries." - Library Journal. "It is not much of an exaggeration to say that the book presents Brahms in a new but quite convincing light... the book can be read as a biography... this composer has seldom seemed more lovable, more vulnerable, more honorable." - Gramophone. "This is one of the most important music books published in recent years." - The Oldie, London.

A Brahms biography based on his letters.
"Johannes Brahms, Life and Letters" is a new biography published by Oxford Univ. Press and is based on the composer's letters.The letters were selected and annotated by Styra Avins and its 550 complete letters which constitute the first such general collection of letters in English, were translated by Josef Eisinger and Styra Avins.The book also contains 48 rare photos, detailed notes and appendices (e.g. on Brahms and Clara Schumann), and a bibliography. The lively text joining the letters is based on the latest Brahms scholarship and provides a fresh view of the composer's life, much of it in his own words.It sheds new light on the early life of Brahms, his numerous friendships, his family, his work, his character and his personality.A well-written book which will heighten anyone's appreciation of the man and of his music.Highly recommended to lovers of biography and music. ... Read more

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Presents a biography of Johannes Brahms ... Read more

Book Description
This is the largest collection of Brahms songs commercially available. Historical notes on all songs address compositional context in the composer's career, remarks about the poets and early performance history. A new translation appears on the first page of each song. New musical research, clear new engravings make this a distinguished source of song literature. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Dover Score of Brahms Concerti
Dover has done good job in this edition. Good quality reprint of complete works edition, it is easy to use and reliable. Only cons goes to the weight :)

An excelent edition of great concerti
This score is an example of Dover's excellent work.Any Dover score I ever perchased was a great buy, and this one is no exception.The instrumentation is listed on every line of music.The score is clear andvery legible.I purchased it for excerpts for my orchestral auditions, butwould certainly use it if I had to conduct any on the works in it. Thisscore is a must for any aspiring conductor's collection. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Great Brahms piano book
The entire collection of Brahms short piano pieces is contained in this volume. The wonderful Op. 39 waltzes which are reduced from 4 hands to 2 hands in this edition. The Scherzo in E flat Minor, the eight pieces Klavierstucke, Op. 76, the two Rhapsodies Op. 79, and the seven Fantasies Op. 116. This book also includes the most beautiful music he ever wrote which were his complete set of Intermezzos from Op.117, Op.118 and Op.119 along with the hard to find Romanze and his only Ballade Brahms ever composed. The music is taken from Brahms own manuscript and is unabridged.One thing I thought was neat about this book is there are two sets of the Op. 39 Waltzes. There is the original version and there is also a simplifed version for those that are inbetween intermediate and advanced levels. That way you can start out with the simplified version and gradually increase to the original with practice. That is how we all progress to being better players. So, don't be intimidated by this book if you don't quite consider yourself at the advanced level yet. There is something for everyone to enjoy in this book.

Good Edition
Good edition of some pretty difficult piano compositions.But if you feel adventurous, you can't go wrong for the price.Dover Editions are always well printed and an excellent value.This edition is no exception. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Absolutely Wonderful!
Brahms was a genius. This book includes his greatest and most important works, with the notable acception of the student of harmony/orchestration/composition student.

Great Reproduction of a Classic Scores
This edition is (inexpensive), detailed, and easy to read. I use these scores for study and rehearsal and I highly reccommend it. Detailed corrections (as well as explanations) from earlier editions were done by Hans Gal.

It is a large score (9 3/8 x 12 1/4 inches)and the is very durable. The pages are thick and the binding allows for the score to lie flat for easy use.

Very good
This edition of the Brahms symphonies is relativley cheap for the wealth of material it presents.The music is very easy to follow and is a must for the Brahms fan and serious student or layperson.

Excellent way to study the classics.
Buying the full score of these wonderful symphonies allows you to dig deeper into such wonderful works. I strongly recomend you buy this full score. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Monumental is the first word that occurs to you when you begin exploring what has been put together by Leon Botstein and his 29 collaborators--and it's appropriate. Seen from a distance (and how else can we see him more than a century after his death?) there is also something monumental--almost forbidding--about the figure of Brahms himself. He was the great musical conservative in the creative ferment of the late 19th century. Haunted by the figure of Beethoven, he destroyed much of his own work--carefully tailoring his posthumous image--in fear of negative comparisons. At the same time, he preserved almost single-handedly the great classical tradition embodied in Beethoven's work, particularly the tradition of the symphony and other abstract works using sonata form, which was nearly engulfed in Brahms's lifetime by Lisztian tone poems, Wagnerian "music of the future," the rise of musical nationalism, and even the first stirrings of impressionism. In this context, Brahms becomes a lonely figure but a vital one.

Virtually every piece composed by Brahms and not sacrificed to his uncompromising critical standards is discussed in this compendium, lucidly, readably, in biographical and cultural context, and in fine detail. The writers are all scholars or professional performers--often both--but they have worked hard to make their discussions and analyses accessible to the interested general reader, and in their diversity of approaches they have made the book a compendium of the varied techniques for writing readably about music. You may not agree with every word (a fine seasoning of opinion has been allowed to flavor the masses of fact), and it is not the sort of book that anyone but a fanatic will gallop through from cover to cover. But you will find Brahms here in all his complexity, still monumental but more approachable than ever. --Joe McLellan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Uneven
The unevenness cited by a previous reviewer is this book's great weakness. Those works covered by writers other than the editor get reasonably detailed treatment. Those written by the editor get very short shrift.These are all solo lieder, vocal duets and quartets, and smaller-scalechoral works, especially the earlier works in these genres. Some of theindividual numbers in these sets get no more discussion than their namesand key signatures.

Even the longer essays are not by any means detailedmusical analyses. They are the equivalent of what you might expect from awell-done set of notes included with a recording.

The title"Compleat" is something of a misnomer. The book barely mentionsmost of the WoO and posthumous works and discusses almost none of the manyalternate arrangements done by Brahms -- including some significant ones,such as the transcriptions of Op. 120 for viola and piano.

Even with itsdeficiencies, if you're a serious Brahmsian, this book will be a valuableaddition to your library.

Superficial
The description says "Virtually every piece composed by Brahms andnot sacrificed to his uncompromising critical standards is discussed inthis compendium, lucidly, readably, in biographical and cultural context,and in fine detail." The claim "in fine detail" is blatantlyuntrue. The detail is about what you'd get on a typical CD insert booklet,nothing more. The C minor symphony gets a scant five pages; the E minor,just three; the four concertos get a total of 13 pages.

4.5 stars indeed
This book contains introduction of EVERY Brahms' work. I use it accompanying with DG's Brahms complete edition, and the result is very informative and I totally enjoy it. The greatest merit,and at the same timethe crucial flaw, of this book is that this is a collaboration. Yes, goodenough, we can find different perspectives and different writing styles anddifferent standard among these articles. But even in the same categorypages seem not being equally distributed. For example, there are 4.5enthusiastic pages dedicated to op.43,four lieder, with every lied indetail. But there are only 3 paragraphs for op.46, four lieder. (It seemsrather "unfair",isn't it? for op.46 is no less distinct then theformer.) I love this book, if regardless of this. ... Read more

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Twelve Piano Solos ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

A gem for music lovers and advanced pianists
As always with Dover, a well made book that will last a very long time.This edition contains an enormous section of the Brahms piano repertoire.I would not recommend almost any of the pieces for the beginner/intermediate pianist, except for reading along with recordings. Less advanced pianists will fare better with the equally valuable Brahms Complete Shorter Works (It has a similar cover, only green).
This edition comes complete with reference notes and alternative notation wherever the record is questionable(rarely).The editor obviously did a very thorough and complete job with this gem.I was very happy with this book and recommend it to anyone looking for some of the longer and more difficult solo piano works of Brahms. ... Read more

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Book Description
Brahms' song writing has received harsh treatment throughout the past centuries. In a book which will transform the way we understand (and listen to) Brahms' works for voice, Sams reveals the depth of the composer's 'verbal expressiveness'- an accomplishment that effectively established a new language; musical form became a medium for poetic dialogue. With the addition of an incisive introduction to the composer as song-writer and to his specific use of motifs, this is an unrivalled and complete analysis, an invaluable companion for students, performers and listeners. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Superb analyses
If you're a devotee of the solo Gesänge und Lieder of Johannes Brahms, you will find this book very valuable indeed.

The author analyzes 212 of Brahms's songs - all 196 that Brahms published in opus-numbered sets, theeight resettings of Op. 103 Zieguenerlieder quartets for solo voice, andeight works without opus numbers. Not included are any of the many DeutscheVolkslieder set by Brahms.

For each song, the author provides the Germantext and a prose English translation. The translations are especially welldone; by doing them in prose, the author is able to more faithfully renderthe meaning of the German than would be the case were the translation to berestricted by the requirements of English rhyme and meter.

Eachtranslation is followed by a non-technical discussion of the song,generally in one or two paragraphs but occasionally longer. These describethe musical structure of the song and the methods that Brahms used toconvey his meaning; occasionally there is also a brief bit of background onthe circumstances of the song's composition.

For each song, there thenfollow a more technical notes section, in which the author identifies thesource of the text, identifies recurring motifs that Brahms used in hissongs (an introductory chapter describes these motifs), references othersettings of the same text by other composers, and sometimes describes earlyreactions to the song by Brahms's friends or fellow musicians.

Theanalyses illustrate the author's deep understanding of this marvelousliterature and have greatly enhanced both my knowledge and appreciation ofthis superb body of work. The principal omission, and the reason I rate thebook only four stars, is the complete absence of musical quotations -except for a few in the introductory "Motifs" chapter - in spiteof the fact that in his analyses, the author often refers to specificmeasures by number. To fully appreciate the author's insights, therefore,you will need access to scores. (Fortunately, Dover publishes a veryaffordable four-volume set of the complete Brahms songs, available fromAmazon.) ... Read more

Amazon.com
Many composers--Mozart, Verdi, Durufle, Faure--have written settings of the requiem, the Roman Catholic mass for the dead, and the listener can find a score for every taste, from the bombastic to the reflective. In this 1865 composition, Johannes Brahms took a different tack. Instead of using the familiar texts of the Latin Mass, Brahms chose to write a German requiem with a decidedly evangelical tack. Using texts from the German translation of the Bible--beginning with a phrase from the Beatitudes and ending with the Revelation of St. John the Divine ("Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord …") Brahms created one of the most comforting works of its kind ever written. (There are few greater evocations of heavenly bliss than No. 4, the chorus sung in English as "How lovely is thy dwelling place.") You can see how he did it with this full orchestral score from Dover. Dover scores are short on bells and whistles--not to mention English translations--but if your primary interest is in the music and how it was put together, you will find this a valuable tool at a bargain price.Book Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Love it!
This is a great piece of music and I really enjoyed getting to see it on the page as it was written out by Brahm's.This score will become an old friend, I'm sure of it!

A great edition of a great choral work!
If you love choral music, you have to love Brahms; if you love Brahms, you have to love his Requiem. It is obvious why this work brought him broad recognition: it is touching and inspiring. This is a must-have.

The best requiem ever written
Dover does an extraordinary job in developing a quite accurate version of the German Requiem.Many consider this piece to be one of the best written in the Romantic Era.Brahms's originality and experimentation between the marriage of both the orchestra and chorus make this piece absolutely one of a kind.Strongly recommended for any listener and Dover's flawless edition is the best around if the listener wants to see the piece as Brahms visioned it. ... Read more