There has been much speculation about Johannes Brahms' connection to Robert Schumann’s wife, Clara. One thing is certain: in 1853, on the recommendation of his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim, the young composer spent a month with the Schumanns in Düsseldorf. Robert was enthusiastic about Brahms’s compositions, while Brahms, in turn, admired his elder colleague and stood by Clara as Robert’s mood continued to darken. Their correspondence reveals a close and complicated friendship.

This programme, however, brings the two men together: Following Brahms’ “Academic”, Spanish cello soloist Pablo Ferrandez performs Schumann’s “Concertstück for Cello with Orchestral Accompaniment” from 1850, which the composer himself described as “quite cheerful” and which delighted Clara.

The programme concludes with Brahms’s Fourth. The weight of Beethoven’s legacy – the ‘Great Nine’ – bore heavily upon his shoulders; it was not until he was 43 that Brahms therefore completed his first symphony. It was well received and gave him the courage to compose three more. Unfortunately, he took the few negative comments from the critics very much to heart, instead of heeding Eduard Hanslick: ‘In the energy of genuine symphonic invention, in the masterful command of all the secrets of counterpoint, harmony and instrumentation, in the logic of development, and in the most beautiful freedom of imagination, Brahms stands entirely alone.’