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Six of the best Brahms recordings

From intimate sonatas to the epic, questing Requiem, we choose some of the best Brahms recordings out there

Published: April 11, 2019 at 9:00 am

Symphonies Nos 1-4

Gewandhaus Orchestra/Riccardo Chailly Decca 478 5344 (3 discs)

With the Gewandhaus and Chailly on magnificent form, this recording adds orchestral rarities to a top-notch Symphony cycle.

Ein deutsches Requiem

Dorothea Röschmann, Thomas Quasthoff; Berlin Philharmonic, Rundfunkchor Berlin/Simon Rattle Warner 365 3932

A superb live performance that captures the human spirit at the heart of the German Requiem.

Four Serious Songs plus other Lieder

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Jörg Demus (piano) Australian Eloquence 480 3527

A masterly anthology of Brahms’s often neglected Lieder, including the Four Serious Songs, written in the last year of his life.

Rhapsodies, Op. 79; Intermezzos, Op. 117 etc.

Radu Lupu (piano) Decca 417 5992

An exquisite selection of some of the composer’s most beautiful, autumnal piano music, played by a superlative Brahmsian.

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String Quartets Nos 1-3; Piano Quintet in F minor

Emerson String Quartet; Leon Fleischer (piano) DG 477 6458

The Emersons bring intelligence and passion to Brahms’s three Quartets. Leon Fleischer joins for a coruscating Piano Quintet.

Violin Sonatas

Anthony Marwood (violin), Aleksander Madzar (piano) Wigmore Hall Live WHLive0050

Warm and lyrical live performances add up to one of the best modern recordings of the Sonatas.

Read our reviews of the latest Brahms recordings here

Find out more about Brahms and his works here

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