Gunnar de Frumerie grew up in a musical family. His mother was a skilled pianist who gave him his first piano lessons, and his father was an architect with a great and lively interest in music. Gunnar’s siblings and later several other family members also became good musicians. He himself appeared early as a pianist and started composing early on. At the age of nineteen, he won all three prizes in a com- position competition organized by the Hirsch piano store in 1927. He had submitted four piano pieces but only written the manuscript to one of the pieces himself; the others were written by his mother, father, and sister, so that the hand-writing would not reveal the author. The jury found all the pieces equally good. The surprise was therefore great when it was discovered that they had the same author. Unofficially, it was said that if there had been a fourth prize, he would have received it as well. It is music written by a young man who was still a student at the Royal Academy of Music. He made his public debut as a pianist in January 1929, playing, among other things, his own works in the main hall of the Music Academy.

Following two CDs featuring Schubert, Shostakovich, and Beethoven, the Aris Quartett, one of the leading award-winning chamber music ensembles of recent years, has put Johannes Brahms on the program of its third GENUIN CD. Included are two key works of the chamber music literature of the 19th century: The String Quartet in C minor, dating from the early period of maturity, is characterized by how the composer dealt with personal losses and how he overcame great doubts. The Clarinet Quintet is one of Brahms' last works ever. A swan song to his oeuvre, perhaps even to Romanticism in general. Enchantingly beautiful playing by a magnificent ensemble!