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Johannes Brahms
Double concert in A minor for violin, cello and orchestra Op. 102
Symphony No. 2 in D major Op. 73
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Double concert in A minor for violin, cello and orchestra Op. 102
The Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra in A minor op. 102 is Brahms' latest symphonic creation. The singular choice of the multi-instrumental solo concert, a musical genre that has now disappeared from the nineteenth-century repertoire, was dictated by the resumption of relations between Brahms and his violinist friend Joseph Joachim - to whom the concert is dedicated - after a period of coldness caused by disagreements and misunderstandings. Mutual friend Clara Schumann called this work a work of reconciliation and so it was. After the composition on the shores of Lake Thun in 1887, the Concerto made its debut in Cologne in October of the same year with Joachim as a solo violin, thus reinforcing the threads of a relationship of esteem and friendship that lasted a lifetime. In creating this work, Brahms used some sketched materials for what could have been an unrealized fifth symphony. For this reason, the Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra has a wide and dramatic symphonic range where little space is left to individual virtuosity.

Symphony No. 2 in D major Op. 73
Just a year had passed since the presentation of the First Symphony when in the summer of 1877, on the shores of Lake Wörth in Carinthia, the Symphony n. 2 in D major op. 73. The speed with which Brahms attended to the new composition was surprising when compared to the very long gestation, which lasted almost twenty years, which accompanied his first symphonic creature. If the First had been hailed as the 'tenth symphony', alluding to the Beethoven heritage of which Brahms is the guardian and guarantor, the Second was called 'pastoral' for its predominantly lyric and melodic character, but also 'Viennese' for the use of the waltz rhythm in two of the four movements. It is a motto of only three notes, sung by the low strings to which horns, bassoons, flutes and clarinets respond, to give the start to the work. It might seem like an introduction but in reality it is already the fundamental piece with which Brahms, through the skilful use of the variation-development technique, builds the first theme and from there the entire symphonic discourse. The following Adagio is a page of intense lyricism that welcomes the chamber sounds of winds and strings to the lulling rhythm of berceuse, while the Allegretto grazioso with its two Trios moves carefree with a bucolic dance step. In the last movement, to establish the connection with the beginning of the symphony, the initial motto of three notes reappears, which Brahms transforms with countless rhythmic-melodic combinations in the general triumph of the orchestra.