Brahmissimo!

Experience PASSION with the NZSO.

Programme One (12 October):
Pietari Inkinen - conductor
Diedre Irons - piano

Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 2 [soloist - Diedre Irons]
Brahms - Symphony No. 1

Brahms famously cogitated long on his first symphony - for fifteen years in fact - determined to meet the great expectations placed on him as successor to Beethoven. In this he succeeded, and from its first airing the symphony has been hailed for its dignity and expansive musical vision. The Second Piano Concerto attains a grandeur that is symphonic in its proportions, radiating from the moment the French horn introduces the first movement’s noble theme.

Programme Two (13 October):
Pietari Inkinen -conductor
Mikhail Ovrutsky - violin

Brahms - Tragic Overture
Brahms - Violin Concerto [soloist - Mikhail Ovrutsky]
Brahms - Symphony No. 2

Imbued with the spirit of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, Brahms’s Second beams with sunny disposition and spirited inventiveness. In his Violin Concerto – ranked among the top four of all time – Brahms transcended the conventions of the concerto as a vehicle for virtuoso display to create one of the pinnacles of orchestral music.

Programme Three (14 October)
Pietari Inkinen - conductor
Michael Houstoun - piano

Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 1 [soloist - Michael Houstoun]
Brahms - Symphony No. 3

The great German music critic Hanslick praised this symphony as “the most nearly perfect” of Brahms’s four symphonic masterpieces. It reveals a composer relishing his mastery of symphonic form, combining an adventurous new approach with profound lyrical sensibility. In his first Piano Concerto, Brahms unleashed the force of his youthful imagination in a true musical tour de force.

Programme Four (15 October Matinee)
Pietari Inkinen - conductor
Mikhail Ovrutsky - violin
Andrew Joyce - NZSO Principal cello

Brahms - Academic Festival Overture
Brahms - Double Concerto [soloists - Mikhail Ovrutsky & Andrew Joyce]
Brahms - Symphony No. 4

In his final symphony, Brahms summons all his powers of musical creativity and expressiveness in a work which encompasses drama, tragedy, joy, and an impassioned homage to the great music of the German past. The Double Concerto is inspired by the composer’s deep though stormy friendship with the violinist Joachim, and its challenges for two remarkable soloists make it a rare treat in performance.

Event listed by NZSO

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