Johannes Brahms - Part II - Teil II

Beethoven's genius stood i8n front of Brahms' eyes as a brilliant but also frightening ideal. "I will never compose a symphony!", the young Brahms lamented still as a mature man to his friends. "You have no idea what someone like me feel always listening to the giant marching along and behind me!" This father fugure especially oppressed the young Brahms, for whom a performance of the "Ninth" in 1854 became a key experience - following this, Brahms transformed his own symphony into the d-minor Piano Concerto, which was not a success when premiered in 1859.

Plagued with self-doubts, he conceited and rejected symphony ideas: 14 years have been between the first sketches for the first c-minor symphony and its final completion.

The Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, opus 102, displayed Brahms at the peak of his creativity. Clara Schumann and many other critics didn't agree with the idea of bringing the cello and the violin together as solo instruments. Today we know, that all critics erred.

String sextets, serenades, incredible oratories - what a wonderful classical treasure of a great classical composer, who died because of an ignored hepatitis.