Brahms' Fourth Symphony

Experience an evening of music influenced by the past but wholly original.

Brahms had, among other foibles, a wicked sense of humour. And so, when a university bestowed upon him the title of ‘Honorary Doctor of Philosophy’, he responded with a blazing concert overture based on drinking songs, one of which was traditionally sung during student initiations. Not quite the dignified, intellectual affair the title suggests…

Thomas Adès and Sergei Rachmaninov also look to the past in the next two works. In his Three Studies from Couperin, Adès pieces together shattered fragments of music by a French Baroque master. Violinist-composer Paganini was suspected of having done a deal with the devil, so dazzling was his playing – Rachmaninov takes his music and explores it across 24 variations for piano. Mercurial moods, wild sonorities and a devilish solo piano parts collide in this intoxicating showpiece, written by one virtuoso about another.

We finish with one of the great pillars of the symphonic repertoire. Unsettling, ambiguous, spikey and fierce, Brahms’ Fourth Symphony was a clear departure from the sunlit intimacy of his previous symphony. But beneath the wash of fury you’ll find determination, too. This was a composer at the top of his game, staring old age defiantly in the face.