Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Sir John Eliot Gardiner

On the Monday evening, the dream team performs the Second and Fourth Symphonies by the Hamburg composer. These two works combine Late Romantic colour, philosophical depth and orchestral power in gripping musical narratives. But for all their common ground, they are very different in mood. The Second, which flowed smoothly from Brahms’s pen after the great success of its predecessor, brims with joie de vivre, with the finale alone providing one of the most electrifying moments that can be experienced in a classical concert. The Fourth Symphony in contrast ends on a note of dark drama. Gardiner, well-known for his fresh and thoroughly exciting interpretations, will doubtless bring out one or two hitherto unnoticed details of the scores.