Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto and Brahms' First Symphony

Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 with Kirill Gerstein

Beethoven's monumental Piano Concerto No. 5 , the 'Emperor Concerto', is the crowning glory of his piano concertos. The heroic grandeur, robust melodies and rhapsodic outbursts are interrupted by a middle section that is contemplative, full of heavenly lyricism.
Kirill Gerstein is one of those rare all-rounders who turns everything he touches into pure gold. From Stravinsky and Liszt with our own orchestra and Rachmaninoff with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, to jazz and contemporary music: his audience and critics are always raving about his playing. Beethoven's 'Emperor Concerto' sounds fresh and completely convincing when Gerstein and Viotti join forces with the Netherlands Philharmonic.

Lorenzo Viotti conducts Brahms' First Symphony

Johannes Brahms used Beethoven's symphonies as a starting point for his own First Symphony . But with its autumnal lyricism, subdued passion, melancholy and comforting power, it is very much Brahms through and through. Brahms had had the greatest difficulty with his first symphony, because 'what can you compose after Beethoven's Ninth Symphony ? It took him more than fifteen years of toiling, deleting and polishing. But hard work pays off: from the first iconic timpani beats to the magnificent finale, every note is on target in this symphonic masterpiece.