In its Brahms cycle, the Collegium Musicum Basel performs the Symphony No. 1 after the Piano Concerto No. 1 - a mighty work which is said to have almost driven Brahms out of his mind when it was created.
"I will never compose a symphony. You have no idea how we feel when we hear such a giant [Beethoven] marching behind us all the time," he wrote to a friend. Beethoven's legacy weighed heavily on the young composer - how could anything else in this genre be composed after the 9th Symphony? But great searching was followed by even greater finding: the result was a powerful and highly complex symphony that was to have a lasting impact on the future course of music history. At the beginning of the concert, we will hear the no less famous "Arpeggione Sonata" by Franz Schubert, arranged for cello and orchestra by Antonio Tusa and masterfully played by Thomas Demenga, as well as Schubert's overture to the opera "Fierrabas".
June 21, 2024
