大象传媒

Kate Molleson looks at Brahms鈥� love-hate relationship with his home city of Hamburg.

Johannes Brahms, the bearded and magisterial Romantic composer, could certainly do grandeur when required. But really, he was more interested in what music meant in ordinary life - how it can whisper, joke and console. He was a man who tried to find a place to belong all his life, wrote for the people closest to him, and that fondness is writ large in his music. All this week, Kate Molleson focuses on Brahms at home, revealing the subtle sides of this sometimes brawny composer 鈥� the tender heart behind the famous beard - through the music he wrote for himself and his friends to play.

Today, we begin in Brahms鈥� birthplace, Hamburg, where he had a cramped and chaotic upbringing. Despite not being able to afford an instrument at home, he was sent out as a child to play piano in bars and brothels. But just beyond the confines of the city centre, headspace and opportunities await.

Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op 52a No 1
Wyneke Jordans, piano
Leo van Doeselaar, piano

Ballade in G minor, Op 118 No 2
Paul Lewis, piano

Sandm盲nnchen WoO 31, No 4 (Children鈥檚 Folk Songs)
Anna Lucia Richter, mezzo
Ammiel Bushakevitz, piano

Scherzo in E flat minor, Op 4
Gerhard Oppitz, piano

An die Nachtigall, Op 46 No 4
Simon Keenlyside, tenor
Malcolm Martineau, piano

Vier Ges盲nge f眉r Frauenchor, Op 17
RIAS Kammerchor
Stefan Jezierski, Manfred Klier, horns
Marie-Pierre Langlamet, harp
Marcus Creed, conductor

Piano Quartet No 1 in G minor Op 25 (3rd mvt 鈥� Andante]
Martha Argerich, piano
Gidon Kremer, violin
Yuri Bashmet, viola
Mischa Maisky, cello

Produced by Amelia Parker for 大象传媒 Audio Wales and West