– symphonic masterpieces

Conductor: Han-Na Chang

Program
Bernd Richard Deutsch: NORWEGIAN PREMIERE: Phantasma
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 3, Op. 90
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 1, Op. 68
 

The symphony that took Brahms almost 20 years to write here shares the orchestral stage with his shortest and most “straightforward”.

“You have no idea what it is like for a composer to hear the footsteps of a giant behind him” was Brahms’ explanation of why “Symphony No. 1” took so long to arrive. The “giant” was, of course, Beethoven, and a self-critical Brahms did not make it easy for himself. But his first symphony was worth waiting for; it was an immediate success.

“Symphony No. 3” has a completely different character than the partly grandiose, partly melancholic first symphony. Here Brahms intertwines the playful and the serious, the intellectual and the down-to-earth, in a work that composer Dvořák praised for "its beauty and melodic richness".

The concert opens with Deutsch's "Phantasma" - a work inspired by Gustav Klimt's "Beethoven Friese". In "Phantasma", Deutsch's dreamlike soundscape is the musical equivalent of Klimt's lavish use of color.