Concertgebouw Orchestra Essentials: Brahms's Symphony No. 2

Concertgebouw Orchestra Essentials

The Essentials series introduces you to the masterpieces you will be happy to know, performed by the world-famous Concertgebouw Orchestra and complete with a lively introduction by the incomparable Thomas Vanderveken. At Essentials we welcome a new generation of music lovers, and the concerts typically have a pleasant informal atmosphere.

Brahms's Symphony No. 2

Of his Second Symphony, Johannes Brahms wrote tongue-in-cheek to his publisher, ‘I have never written anything so sad, so minor; the score should be published with a black border.’ Melancholy is never very far away in Brahms’s music, but the near carefree Second Symphony did not earn itself the nickname ‘Pastoral’ for nothing. An exemplar of his symphonic mastery, the work gives free rein to scintillating, lively melodies.

Essentials starts at 9 p.m. with an imaginative introduction to the programme (in Dutch).