Wiener Symphoniker / Avdeeva / Popelka

It begins with a sombre timpani tremolo: Johannes Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1. The attempted suicide of his friend and patron Robert Schumann in 1854 is said to have been the inspiration for this work. Brahms dreamt of how he reworked a symphony draft into a piano concerto: »From the first movement and scherzo and a finale, terribly heavy and large. I was quite enthusiastic«, he wrote to Robert's wife Clara in 1855. The exact relationship he had with her remains a mystery to this day. »I am also painting a gentle portrait of you, which is to become Adagio«, he continued. The audience was impressed at the premiere in Hanover in 1859 with Brahms at the keys. In the Wiener Symphoniker concert, Yulianna Avdeeva, who has conquered the major podiums since winning the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2010, takes on the role of soloist.

A novel in four volumes
Some thirty years earlier, Franz Schubert composed his »Great C major Symphony«. He was inspired by a long journey to the mountains and lakes of Upper Austria. The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien did not première the work as originally planned. This did not take place until 1839, almost eleven years after Schubert's death, at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. Schubert's brother Ferdinand had drawn Robert Schumann's attention to the score and thus initiated the performance. Mendelssohn conducted the performance in Schumann's presence: »Clara, heut war ich selig. A symphony by Franz Schubert was played in the rehearsal. If you had been there. It cannot be described. These are human voices ... like a novel in four volumes ... I was quite happy and wished nothing more than that you were my wife and I could also write such symphonies.«