Brahms contra Chin 8 February

After struggling for years with the shadow of Beethoven looming over him, Brahms was freed from his ghosts after the success of his first symphony. After that, it did not take long before Symphony No. 2 was completed as well, which is said to be Brahms’s own favourite symphony. Unsuk Chin’s music was last heard at Berwaldhallen in the autumn of 2017. That time, it was her clarinet concerto, now it is her playful but no less challenging Piano Concerto that will be tackled by acclaimed Swiss pianist, Francesco Piemontesi.

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South Korean Unsuk Chin, based in Berlin, is one of the foremost contemporary composers in the world. She is played in concert halls and opera houses across the globe, much appreciated for her bold and unconventional progressions, colourful orchestral sounds, lyrical depth and rhythmic imagination. And not least, her sense of humour. A certain affiliation with György Ligeti has been alleged – she studied composition under him – but Unsuk Chin is definitely more carefree.

She has said about her instrumental concerts – she has written for sheng (a traditional Chinese mouth organ), violin, clarinet as well as piano – that she creates extreme situations in order to force the soloists to go beyond what is possible. The Piano Concerto, on commission by the BBC in 1997, is no exception; it demands a lot from the pianist. Speaking of the piano concerto, Unsuk Chin has said that it reflects all eras of piano literature, from Scarlatti to the present, emphasizing the instrument’s energetic, virtuoso and playful aspects.

With his second symphony, that Johannes Brahms wrote in 1877, he definitely claimed his place among the greatest composers of his age. According to himself, his first symphony took 21 years from rough draft to finished piece, while the others evolved more rapidly after the positive responses to the first. Brahms himself allegedly claimed, concerning the difficulty with the first symphony, that you cannot have any idea what it is like ”always to hear such a giant marching behind you”. The giant was of course Beethoven, and Brahms’s fist symphony is sometimes also called ”Beethoven’s tenth”. The second symphony has also been compared to Beethoven when it has been called Brahms’s ”pastoral symphony”.

The first movement opens with three notes in the deep violin parts, as a leitmotif that the composer keeps working on throughout the work. Despite its many lighter sounds, the symphony also holds darkness and, in Brahms’s typical manner, both introverted inquiry and extroverted euphoria. Of the four symphonies written by Johannes Brahms, this is said to have been his favourite.

Text: Jenny Leonardz

SWEDISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

2018/2019

Participants

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a multiple-award-winning ensemble renowned for its high artistic standard and stylistic breadth, as well as collaborations with the world’s finest composers, conductors, and soloists. It regularly tours all over Europe and the world and has an extensive and acclaimed recording catalogue.

Daniel Harding has been Music Director of the SRSO since 2007, and since 2019 also its Artistic Director. His tenure will last throughout the 2024/2025 season. Two of the orchestra’s former chief conductors, Herbert Blomstedt and Esa-Pekka Salonen, have since been named Conductors Laureate, and continue to perform regularly with the orchestra.

The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs at Berwaldhallen, concert hall of the Swedish Radio, and is a cornerstone of Swedish public service broadcasting. Its concerts are heard weekly on the Swedish classical radio P2 and regularly on national public television SVT. Several concerts are also streamed on-demand on Berwaldhallen Play and broadcast globally through the EBU.

Antony Hermus, conductor

Francesco Piemontesi, piano

Francesco Piemontesi är en hyllad uttolkare av den klassiska och romantiska tyska pianorepertoaren, inte minst Schuberts pianosonater, liksom soloverk och pianokonserter av Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms och Liszt. På hans repertoar finns även pianokonserter av Ravel, Bartók, Rachmaninov och Schönberg, liksom pianoverk av Olivier Messiaen och Unsuk Chin. Han är en återkommande gäst hos institutioner, festivaler och ensembler världen över och dessutom konstnärlig ledare för festivalen Settimane Musicali di Ascona i staden Locarno i Schweiz, där han är uppvuxen.

Bland höjdpunkterna under säsongen 2023/24 kan nämnas framträdanden med Tonhalle-orkestern i Zürich och New Yorks Filharmoniker med dirigenten Gianandrea Noseda, NDR Elbfilharmonins orkester och DR Symfoniorkestret med Herbert Blomstedt och Finska Radions Symfoniorkester med Hannu Lintu. Han kommer även att gästa Aix-en-Provence-festivalen och Schubertiade-festivalen i Österrike och ge solokonserter i Wigmore Hall i London, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées i Paris och Teatro di San Carlo i Neapel.

Han har gjort ett antal skivinspelningar som fått goda omdömen av såväl kritiker som lyssnare, bland annat av Schuberts sista pianosonater, Debussys preludier, samt pianokonserter av Mozart inspelade med Skotska Kammarorkestern och Andrew Manze. På sin senaste skiva har han spelat in Franz Liszts Transcendentala etyder och Sonat h-moll.

Som kammarmusiker uppträder han med bland andra Renaud Capuçon, Tabea Zimmermann, Leonidas Kavakos, Martha Argerich och Janine Jansen, han har spelat med orkestrar som Berlinerfilharmonikerna, Los Angeles Filharmoniker och Gewandhausorkestern i Leipzig och arbetat med dirigenter som Gianandrea Noseda, Fabio Lusi, Antonio Pappano, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Thomas Søndergård, Daniel Harding och Karina Canellakis.