Johannes Brahms: Double concerto in A minor Opus 102 for Violin Cello and Orchestra

The South Birmingham Sinfonia will perform this symphony in their Winter 2019 concert on 9th February 2018. The notes here are by Sadie Kaye.

This is Brahms' last work for orchestra, composed in the summer of 1887 and performed in October that year.

There are three movements,

Allegro (A minor)
Andante (D major)
Vivace non troppo (A minor then A major)

Interestingly, for a piece so firmly in the current repetoire Brahm's contemporaries reacted rather negatively to the concerto. Richard Specht described it as "one of Brahms' most inapproachable and joyless compositions". It will be up to SBS's audience to prove him wrong, as I am sure you will do!

Not so much joyless, it is much more of an intensely personal journey that Brahms takes us on from an opening cadenza through the lyrical and romantic to a bubbling finale.

SBS are particularly fortunate to have soloists Michael Bochmann (violin) and Peter Adams (cello) for this evening's performance.