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Kate Molleson tells the story of Brahms‘s all-consuming friendship with the Schumanns.

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 – the tender heart behind the famous beard - through the music he wrote for himself and his friends to play.

Today, we follow Brahms on an autumnal pilgrimage that sets his life spinning. Aimless and restless, he finds anchoring and inspiration in his new best friends, the Schumanns. Little does he know that his next few years will be overturned by tragedy, dramas and a heart-wrenching dilemma…

Einförmig ist der Liebe Gram, Op 113 No 13
Women of Leipzig Radio Choir
Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, conductor

Sonata in C major (4th movement)
Lars Vogt, piano

FAE Sonata (3rd movement – Scherzo)
Isabelle Faust, violin
Alexander Melnikov, piano

Piano Trio, Op 8 (3rd movement – Adagio)
Christian Tetzlaff, violin
Tanja Teztlaff, cello
Lars Vogt, piano

Geistliches Lied, Op 30
Tenebrae
Nigel Short, conductor

Intermezzo, Op 117 No 2
Benjamin Grosvenor, piano

Sextet No 2 (1st mvt – Allegro non troppo)
Nash Ensemble

Produced by Amelia Parker for Â鶹ԼÅÄ Audio Wales and West