Brahms Nos. 2 and 4

Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Concertgebouw Orchestra conclude their Brahms cycle in grandiose fashion with all four symphonies spread over two evenings - in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Luxembourg. John Eliot Gardiner first made a name for himself as a conductor of Baroque music performed on historical instruments. But the vision he developed would soon extend far beyond music of the eighteenth century. Thus, he became a ‘specialist all-rounder’ - which makes him just the man for Brahms’s symphonies. 

It is always clear in Brahms’s music, no matter how romantic, that he is following in a long tradition. His scintillating Second Symphony, for instance, is unmistakably reminiscent of Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’. But just listen to the finale of Brahms’s Fourth – a glowing series of symphonic variations. This is pure Brahms, yet in the strictly Baroque form of the passacaglia, in the style of Bach – unsurprisingly, Gardiner’s first and undying love. This music truly transcends the centuries.