Brahms's powerful first symphony, and the world premiere recording of Mark Starr's piece inspired by Brahms.

Biographer Robert Haven Schauffler described a meeting between Brahms and violinist Arthur Abell in which Brahms recalled, "I met an American girl who played for me on that curious instrument [the banjo] a sort of music which she called Ragtime. I thought I would use ... the interesting rhythms of this Ragtime. But I do not know whether I shall ever get around to it." One cannot help but wonder: what sort of ragtime piece might Brahms have come up with if he had not died a year after talking with Abell - and if he had gotten around to fulfilling his initial intention. What might such a ragtime piece have sounded like? Such a ragtime piece might well have changed the course of music history, making jazz international, and not strictly American. And who knows? Had Brahms composed a ragtime work, today we might all be singin' Die Blauen. To answer the provocative question "What might a ragtime piece by Johannes Brahms have sounded like?" I have composed a speculative work entitled "The Johannes Brahms Rag." -- Mark Starr