Brahms-Schumann cycle

[Guest]

Beginning on Monday 22nd, december and continuing through the week, Afternoon Concert is presenting Simon Rattle and the BPO's Schumann-Brahms Symphonic cycle which was performed at the Berlin Festival on four evenings last september.

The concerts paired the same numbered symphonies together for each concert.
One curiosity - Schumann's 4th was given in it's original 1841 version and not the generally accepted version.

Strange decision as all the other symphonies were presented in their normally accepted forms.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Beginning on Monday 22nd, december and continuing through the week, Afternoon Concert is presenting Simon Rattle and the BPO's Schumann-Brahms Symphonic cycle which was performed at the Berlin Festival on four evenings last september.

The concerts paired the same numbered symphonies together for each concert.
One curiosity - Schumann's 4th was given in it's original 1841 version and not the generally accepted version.

Strange decision as all the other symphonies were presented in their normally accepted forms.

Even stranger, therefore, that the pairings are not chronological. That would have been Schumann 4,1,2,3, along with Brahms 1,2,3,4.

[amateur51]

Me? I'm just glad to be able to hear these performances of this marvellous music.

Bravo all!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Me? I'm just glad to be able to hear these performances of this marvellous music.

Are there such far-reaching revisions to the other seven symphonies as those between the 1841 original and normally accepted 1851 revision?

[Bryn]

Even stranger, therefore, that the pairings are not chronological. That would have been Schumann 4,1,2,3, along with Brahms 1,2,3,4.

They should have performed both versions or the '1st' (as Mackerras did at the EIF in 1999) and then added the Schoenberg orchestration of the Brahms Piano Quartet Op. 25 to even things up.

[amateur51]

They should have performed both versions or the '1st' (as Mackerras did at the EIF in 1999) and then added the Schoenberg orchestration of the Brahms Piano Quartet Op. 25 to even things up.

The Brahms/Schoenberg is a Rattle speciality too, for which he was once publicly scolded by Alfred Brendel, not entirely seriously as Brendel stayed for the performance in RFH and was enthusiastic in his applause from a box

[slarty]

Having already heard the original broadcasts, I can heartily recommend the concerts.

[BBMmk2]

Hmmm I could think of better works than these pairings, just sound boring, or shall I say dry?

[Nick Armstrong]

Hmmm I could think of better works than these pairings, just sound boring, or shall I say dry?

I shouldn't imagine anyone would mind if you did...