Lucerne Symphony Orchestra / Andreas Ottensamer/ Michael Sanderling

Brahms himself stood on the conductor’s podium for the premiere of his Fourth Symphony in Meiningen on 25th October 1885. It was to remain his final symphony. «The almost gripping quality of the whole work, the density of the invention, the wonderfully intricate development of the motifs, even more so than the richness and beauty of individual passages make me believe that the E minor is almost my favourite of the four symphonies», wrote Joseph Joachim, the composer’s musical companion «of the utmost enthusiasm» for decades. The young Richard Strauss, who was present in Meiningen, reacted just as enthusiastically: «A huge work, new and original and yet a true Brahms from A to Z». Johannes Brahms met the clarinettist of the court orchestra, Richard Mühlfeld, in Meiningen at that time. Although he actually wanted to give up composing, he wrote two new clarinet sonatas for him. «I wasn’t so presumptuous as to write a concerto for you», Brahms said jokingly. Joking aside, Luciano Berio took on this task by rewriting the first sonata with its piano accompaniment into a veritable clarinet concerto in 1986. Clarinettists the world over are grateful.