Brahms Violin Concerto & Double Concerto for Violin and Cell

“I have never before come across such a major talent. He is years ahead of me.” Thus spoke the Hungarian violinist and composer Joseph Joachim of his colleague Johannes Brahms, who was his junior by two years. Joachim and Brahms had met each other in Hanover in 1853, and from that moment onwards they became inseparable.
Not only did they give many concerts together, but during 1853 and 1854 Brahms even lived in Joachim’s household for some time. In a letter to his girlfriend Gisela von Arnim, dated October 20, 1854, Joachim gives a detailed characterization of his friend. He