Oksana Lyniv © Oleg Pavliuchenkov
Pablo Heras-Casado © Milagro Elstak
Christiane Karg © Gisela Schenker
Matthias Goerne © Marie Staggat / Deutsche Grammophon
Christoph Eschenbach © Manu Theobald
Brahms im Abo
The Brahms cycle of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra is a feast for all friends of the music of the great Viennese by choice from Hamburg: the focus is on a chronological complete performance of the four symphonies in two concerts in January and February. The First, which is considered to be rather brooding but also passionate, and the cheerful Second, written immediately afterwards, will be interpreted by Pablo Heras-Casado, who has made a great name for himself not least as a gripping interpreter of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schumann. The lavishly splendid Third and the uncompromisingly serious Fourth Symphony, written only a short time later, are in the hands of Jaap van Zweden, who already made a name for himself more than ten years ago with a highly acclaimed recording of the complete Brahms symphonies. The cycle opens with a performance of the "German Requiem", Brahms' largest vocal work in terms of scope and significance, with which he achieved his final breakthrough in his mid-thirties. With Christiane Karg and Matthias Goerne, the soloists are luxuriously cast, with maestro Christoph Eschenbach on the podium. Finally, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of the Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv, who serves as general music director of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, will perform a fifth "symphony" by Brahms, namely Arnold Schönberg's arrangement of his first piano quartet.