Consoling, abidingly human, and even more intimate in the accompaniment for piano four hands Brahms made shortly after its completion, the ‘German Requiem’ is a deeply felt response to the death of his mother, and perhaps, at a distance, that of Schumann too. Preceding it is the two-piano original of the Variations that put Brahms on the orchestral map, effortlessly inventive, and included in Brahms’ last public appearance as a pianist.
