Brahms & Marx im Wiener Musikverein

About the Event

“Just back from rehearsal. No. IV huge, very peculiar, completely new, ironclad individuality. Breathes unprecedented energy from A to Z”: This is how Hans von Bülow, conductor of the premiere of Johannes Brahms' Fourth Symphony in Meiningen in 1885, described it. And the young Richard Strauss, who was second conductor there at the time, recognized: “His new symphony is indeed a monumental work, of great conception and invention, genius in its treatment of form, period structure, of eminent verve and power, new and original.” Fabien Gabel contrasts the grandiose, austere E minor that still resounds at the end of this last Brahms symphony with the repeatedly heartfelt blossoming E major in Joseph Marx's “Romantic Piano Concerto,” composed in 1919—and yes, its title says it all. To revive the thunderous pomp and delicate flattery, the refined, Strauss‐like cantilenas and crescendos of this work, Gabel enlisted the help of Marc‐André Hamelin: a highly accomplished, curious pianist who shies away from no challenge.

Wiener Musikverein

The Wiener Musikverein is one of the world's great concert halls. The home of the Vienna Philarmonic Orchestra and the centre of Viennese musical life, the building was opened in 1870 as a part of an ambitious plan to create an elegant cultural boulevard along the Ringstrasse. Designed in the Neo‐Classical style to resemble an Ancient Greek temple, the Great Hall of the Musikverein is deemed to be one of the best music halls in the world thanks to its impeccable acoustics.
In 2004 four new halls were added to the building. The Austrian architect Wilhelm Holzbauer recognised the aesthetic importance of the existing building and sought out ways to echo the style in a modern language of form. Each of the four New Halls focuses on a different material — glass, metal, stone, and wood.