Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester olv. Lothar Zagrosek

Lothar Zagrosek, Isabelle van Keulen and the Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester. A promising combination for an assorted programme of outstanding classical symphonic works by Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven. In the spring of 1773, Mozart wrote his twenty-seventh symphony on his return visit to Salzburg. Once again, both father and son were employed by Archbishop Colloredo. This symphony, composed when Mozart was seventeen years old, is from the Sturm und Drang ('Storm and Stress') period. In 1877, Johannes Brahms finally began to set about composing the violin concerto that he had promised his friend Joseph Joachim, the famous violin virtuoso. In consultation with him, Brahms did away with the two middle sections and replaced them with what he himself called 'a stupid adagio'. Was it false modesty? The adagio became the emotional heart of this warm-blooded concerto. The creation performed on 1st January 1879 in Leipzig was a failure; fourteen days later in Vienna the concerto celebrated its first success. It would later become one of the most played and beloved violin concertos. Beethoven's Eighth Symphony is an unusual piece where wilfulness and aggression are almost completely absent. Due to the strikingly traditional writing and easy-going gaiety, it is an uncharacteristic Beethoven symphony, and this is perhaps why it is played the least.