[5] The first performance was given in Vienna on 9 November 1896 in the presence of the composer,[6] by two Dutch artists: the baritone Anton Sistermans[7] and the 20-year-old pianist Coenraad V.

Zur-Mühlen could not achieve the final diminuendo as marked in the score, so he instructed Bos to continue the crescendo after the vocal line finished and end the work fff rather than the p that Brahms had indicated.

[4] Kathleen Ferrier recorded Vier ernste Gesänge in 1947 with pianist Phyllis Spurr, and in 1950 with John Newmark.

A reviewer commented in Gramophone: The vocal line spans nearly two octaves, some of it lying rather awkwardly for the voice, but Miss Ferrier meets all its demands triumphantly—and nowhere more so than in the wonderful third song, O Tod, wie bitter bist du, in which she beautifully covers the top notes, and in the last song, in which she gives such noble expression, with full voice, to the great phrase set to the words 'Nun aber bleibet glaube, hoffnung, liebe, diese drei' ('Now abideth faith and hope and love, these three').

[11] In a 1949 live broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall, she sang an orchestrated version in English with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Sargent.

He brings an appropriately sepulchral tone to the second song, where at times the huge voice is scaled down to a whisper, an effect that's sparingly used but (as done here) can make strong hearts melt.

[14] Teddy Tahu Rhodes recorded the Glanert orchestration on his album Serious Songs in 2011 with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra under Sebastian Lang-Lessing for ABC Classics.

[15] On his CD, "Encounter" (2020), Igor Levit performs Vier ernste Gesänge arranged for piano by Max Reger.