Cocktail Party Fact: Never conventionally religious (he started life as a whorehouse pianist working the Hamburg docks), Brahms at one point thought of removing all reference to God from this piece and calling it “A Human Requiem.” Nevertheless, he knew his Bible well enough to select the texts for this work himself.

Commitment Factor: If you love the work, only about 70 short minutes. If you hate it, about 70 agonizing, interminable minutes. (If you’re buying a recording, avoid any longer than 75 minutes!)

Vital Statistics: Romantic Period (1867). This is a cantata: a choral work on sacred texts with a unified theme, but no plot or story-line, written for orchestra, chorus, two soloists and organ. Brahms’ theme is death, but the purpose of the music is to console, not depress. Whether or not it succeeds is a matter of opinion.

What to Listen For: There’s a lot of really beautiful music here (check out the second and sixth movements), but it’s also hard to deny that there are some dull bits. Listeners are divided: some love the choruses and loathe the two solo numbers. Others love the solos and only like some of the choruses. One of the problems may be that most of the choruses end with lengthy fugues (big, contrapuntal extravaganzas), and the numbers with the best beginnings don’t always have the best endings–and vice versa. When listening to any choral music, always try to follow the words–notice in this particular case that the work ends as it began, music set to the words “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”