Chief Conductor Edward Gardner presides over this not-to-be-missed chance to hear the winner of the 2023 Norwegian Soloists' Prize, yet to be awarded. After that comes a profound farewell from Brahms - the symphony the German composer conceived as his retreat from the world. Written in the summers of 1884 and 1885, Brahms's Fourth reflects on the composer's lifelong servitude and his acceptance of the end of his creative and mortal life. The most luminous and spiritual of the composer's symphonies, it is considered by many his supreme achievement in orchestral music - the summation of his quest to wed discipline with emotion, function with form. A good performance of Brahms's final symphony embraces like lake water, refreshing the spirit as much as it stimulates the mind.