Brahms' lifelong preoccupation with the solo voice can be heard to great effect in this sixth volume of his complete songs. The ghostly and dreamlike opening of the Four Duets, Op. 28 and moods of... more

For Brahms, folk songs were sources of musical inspiration, not subjects for academic study. The songs from Books 6 and 7 of the Deutsche Volkslieder exemplify how Brahms' distinctive and expressive... more

Brahms was opposed to the Lied cultivated by the 'New German' circle of composers around Franz Liszt who developed it into a highly artificial art form. In the books of the 49 Deutsche Volkslieder... more