Brahms: Piano Works - Jörg Demus

One day late in September 1853, a shy, somewhat awkward young man knocked at the door of Mr. R. Schumann and introduced himself as Johannes Brahms, with a letter of introduction from Joseph Joachim. Schumann received his visitor politely if not cordially and out of respect for their mutual friend asked the young man to play some of his own compositions. Politeness soon gave way to interest and interest to enthusiasm. The young composer was asked to wait until frau Schumann, too, could hear his music, then he had to begin over again, playing one composition after another. When it was all over, Schumann put his hand on Brahms' shoulder and said softly, "young man, you are the one I have been looking for. We two understand one another!" Later that year Schumann wrote an article for the magazine he had founded many years earlier, Neue Zeitschrift fur musik, called "New Paths," in which he announced to the public the arrival on the musical scene of ''the young eagle,'' as he called Brahms. It wasn't long before Brahms came to be regarded as one of the Schumann family, and he reciprocated by developing a lifelong fondness for the Schumanns and for Robert's music.