The number of books and recordings are almost innumerable. For more than a hundred years musicians and scholars have play, recorded and written about Brahms. It seems almost impossible to pick right from wrong. Below is a list with the most recommendable literature and recordings - in my personal opinion.
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LITERATURE
LITERATURE
Kalbeck, Max - Brahms I-IV
Deutsche Brahms-Gesellschaft, Berlin 1904-15This eight-volume biography is the most comprehensive biography ever written on Brahms. It is also one of the few first-hand recollections of him. Kalbeck knew Brahms personally and worked on his monumental work for almost twenty years. It is still the reference work on Brahms, but in recent years many inaccuracies and flaws have been corrected making it slightly less trustworthy as a primary source. Nevertheless its many first hand accounts make it an indispensable reference.
I've prepared a FREE electronic version as a searchable PDF with footnotes on the actual pages they refer to.
Musgrave, Michael - A German Requiem
Cambridge University Press 1996If you love Brahms' epic oratorio and want to dig a little deeper this is the book. Michael Musgrave is the foremost authority on this work and his book brings many interesting and revealing details to the reader. It sheds light on the creational process as well as the musical context and the emotional depth.
Musgrave, Michael - A Brahms reader
Yale University Press 2000This book is a must for anyone who needs to get an overview on Brahms' life and works. It is quite comprehensive and it draws on the latest research. It also comes in handy as a reference on individual pieces of music.
Avins, Styra
Johannes Brahms life and letters - Oxford University Press 1997 ISBN 0-19-924733-0Barkan, Hans
Johannes Brahms & Theodor Billroth, letters from a friendship - University of Oklahoma Press 1957 (first English translation with dedication from the editor)Berger, Ludwig
Om Mennesket Johannes BrahmsBrahms, Johannes
Mit den Gedanken in Wien - 5 breve i faximile - Doblinger 09 562 ISBN 3-900035-80-6Fisher-Dieskau, Dietrich
Johannes Brahms, Leben und Lieder - Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH 2006 ISBN 978-3-548-60828-0Dietrich, Albert & J.V.Widmann
Recollection of Johannes Brahms - University Press of the Pacific 2000 (reprint of 1899 edition) ISBN 089875-141-1Eisenberger, Agnes
The Brahms Notebooks - Pendragon Press 2003 (reprint and translation of 1909 edition) ISBN 978-1-57647-082-4Forner, Johannes
Brahms, Ein Sommerkomponist - Faber & Faber Verlag 2007 ISBN 978-3-86730-042-1Frisch and Karnes
Brahms and his world - revised edition - Princeton University Press, Princeton 2009Fuller-Maitland, J.A
Brahms - xxxxxGal, Hans
BrahmsGeiringer, Karl
Brahms - his life and work (reproduction of 3rd ed.) - Da Capo Press, Inc. New York 1984 ISBN 0-306-80223-6Johannes Brahms Gesellschaft
Brahms-Studien Band 1-19 - Johannes Brahms Gesellschaft, Hamburg 1982-2020Kraus, Detlev
Brahmsiana II - Hans Schneider 2003 ISBN 3 7952 1112 3Krausnick, Michail
Du bist mir so unendlich lieb - Wellhöfer Verlag, Mannheim 2010 ISBN 978-3-939540-63-2
Kalbeck, Max
Johannes Brahms im Briefwechsel mit Heinrich und Elizabeth von Herzogenberg, erster Band -Deutschen Brahms-Gesellschaft m.b.h.Berlin 1908 (reproduction of original) Nabu Public Domain Reprints 2010Lathan, Peter
Brahms - J-M.Dent & Sons Ltd., London 1948 - reprint 1966May, Florence
The Life of Johannes Brahms, volume 1 - BiblioBazaar (reproduction of original) 2008Musgrave, Michael
Brahms, A German Requiem - Cambridge University Press 1996 ISBN 0 521 40995 0 (paperback)A Brahms Reader - Yale University Press 2000 ISBN 0-300-06804-2 (cloth) - ISBN 0-300-09199-0 (paperback) Brahms 2 - Cambridge University Press 1987 ISBN 0 521 02702 0 (paperback)The Cambridge Companion to Brahms - Cambridge University Press 1999 ISBN 9 780521 485814 (paperback)Niemann, Walter
Brahms - Tudor Publishing Company, New York 1937Ophüls, Gustav
Brahms-Texte - sämtliche von Johannes Brahms vertonten und bearbeiteten Texte - Langewiesche-Brahms 1983 3-7864-0015-4Pascall, Robert
Brahms - Cambridge University Press 1983 ISBN 9 978-0-521-08836-7 (paperback)Rasmussen, Karl Aage
En sørgmodig drøm om idyl (Danish)Stare, Ivar
Brahms - Nyt Nordisk Forlag - Arnold Busck, København 1956RECORDINGS
RECORDINGS
These are a frew og my personal recomendations...
Op.1&2 Sviatoslav Richter, piano (Philips)
Op.5 Grigory Sokolov, piano (Naïve opus 111)
Op.8 Beaux Arts Trio (Philips)
Op.9 Idil Biret, piano (Naxos)
Op.10 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano (Deutsche Grammophon)
Op.15 Radu Lupu, piano (Decca)
András Schiff, piano (ECM records)
Op.33 Dietrich Fisher Dieskau, baritone (Deutsche Grammophon)
Op.35 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano (Philips)
Op.68 Statskapelle Dresden & dir. Kurt Sanderling (RCA)
Op.73 Statskapelle Dresden & dir. Kurt Sanderling (RCA)
Op.83 András Schiff, piano (ECM records)
Op.90 Statskapelle Dresden & dir. Kurt Sanderling (RCA)
Op.98 Statskapelle Dresden & dir. Kurt Sanderling (RCA)
Op.116 Emil Gilels, piano (Deutsche Grammophon)
Op.117 Radu Lupu, piano (Decca)
Op.118 Radu Lupu, piano (Decca)
Op.119 Radu Lupu, piano (Decca)
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