Programme Notes
Yuja Wang plays Brahms Thu 15 October 2026 • 20.15 Fri 16 October 2026 • 20.15
PROGRAMME conductor Tarmo Peltokoski piano Yuja Wang Johannes Brahms 1833-1897 Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 (1858) • Maestoso • Adagio • Rondo: Allegro non troppo intermission Johannes Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 (1878–81) • Allegro non troppo • Allegro appassionato • Andante • Allegretto grazioso—Un poco più presto concert ends at around 22.30 Most recent performances by our orchestra Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1: Aug 2026, piano Rudolf Buchbinder, conductor Lahav Shani (on tour) Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2: May 2026, piano Daniil Trifonov, conductor Lahav Shani One hour before the start of the concert, Bart de Graaf will give an introduction (in Dutch) to the programme, admission €7,50. Tickets are available at the hall, payment by debit card. The introduction is free for Vrienden.
Cover: Photo Hannah Wright (Unsplash)
Johannes Brahms, Vienna 1896. Photo by Maria Fellinger
One man, two appearances Brahms’ best known photographs depict him as a gruff, portly man with a shaggy beard and a bristly moustache. Portraits of Brahms as a young man, however, present a rather different picture: a slender face with refined features and a dreamy gaze. Brahms’s two piano concertos are as different as these images are.
Brahms’ First Piano Concerto is a turbulent, capricious monument, bubbling with intense emotion. With his gentler Second, two decades later, the composer demonstrated that his music had evolved from inner turmoil to inner tranquillity.
Beethoven’s shadow
Brahms was rather self-critical, verging on insecurity. The legacy of the great Beethoven weighed heavily on the young Hamburg pianist and composer, who was particularly reluctant to publish a symphony. After all, who could ever hope to match Beethoven’s nine orchestral masterpieces?
These doubts also played a part in the creation of what we now know as the First Piano Concerto. Brahms began the piece as a composition for two pianos, but he was not satisfied with the result. The decision to turn it into a symphony only made matters worse; it was not until twenty years later that he completed his First Symphony. Beethoven’s shadow, you know. That is why Brahms decided to add a piano to the orchestra; as a renowned pianist, he felt very much at ease with that instrument. That Brahms’ First Piano Concerto is a hybrid form of symphony and concerto
Johannes Brahms, Leipzig 1853. Portrait photograph by Bertha Wehnert-Beckmann
becomes clear in the orchestral opening of the Maestoso. It is bombastic, thrilling, grand and compelling. A touch grim, even. It is only after several minutes that the piano enters, bringing a sense of relief, but the sombre music returns. According to Brahms’s first biographer, Max Kalbeck, this sombre music was a reaction to the failed suicide attempt by Robert Schumann, with whom Brahms had been friends for some time. In the second movement, the Adagio, it is not Robert Schumann but his wife Clara who is the subject of the music. Much has been written about the later relationship between Brahms and Clara Schumann; the question
of whether the two were close friends or lovers continues to be a subject of debate. Brahms described this affectionate Adagio as ‘an honest portrait of Clara Schumann’, and anyone who listens to the emotional opening and the passionate climax of this movement can draw their own conclusions. Brahms inscribed the title ‘Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini’ (‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’) above the score of this movement, perhaps as a musical tribute to Robert Schumann, who had by then passed away. The Finale is based on Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. The energetic piano opening sets the tone for
the rest of the movement, in which complex counterpoint, thrilling orchestration and pianistic virtuosity vie for prominence. A Beethovenian, exuberant heroism ultimately has the final say. Clara Schumann, one of the finest pianists of her time, was one of the few who immediately embraced Brahms’ First Piano Concerto. She loved to play it. ‘I was without doubt the happiest person in the whole hall (…) the joy of the work overwhelmed me, but the audience understood nothing of it and felt nothing; otherwise, they would surely have shown the necessary respect,’ she sighed after one of those performances. Twenty years later, the concerto’s reputation was hardly any better. ‘You can be proud of yourself for having brought a work with such a bad reputation as my Concerto in D minor to a music festival,’ Brahms wrote to his friend, the pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow, who performed it in 1882.
Revenge
Shortly before that, Brahms had begun work on his Second Piano Concerto. A form of revenge? It certainly seems that way. On the surface, the two concertos appear complete opposites: the First is sombre, tragic, filled with struggle and drama; the Second is more open, more lyrical, more relaxed. The orchestral part is more transparent and refined, the piano part more elegant. Yet the two concertos share the same epic scale. Whilst the First Piano Concerto lasts over forty minutes, the Second is grander still, with not three but four movements and an even broader musical scope. In the two decades between the piano concertos, Brahms’s music evolved from inner struggle to inner tranquillity.
The Second Piano Concerto opens with a broad, warm horn melody, to which the piano responds. The horn, traditionally the instrument of nature and the hunt, was close to Brahms’s heart: Brahms’s father, who died six years before Brahms began work on this Second Piano Concerto, was a horn player. In Brahms’ music, the horn often evokes feelings of melancholy, farewell and consolation, and this opening is no exception. Following this call from the past, the piano plays a cadenza in which drama begins to emerge, but Brahms consistently keeps it in check. Whenever things become almost too dramatic in this epic first movement, Brahms intervenes, often with a variation on the horn call from the beginning.
Whenever things become almost too dramatic in this epic first movement, Brahms intervenes The second movement is a scherzo, evoking memories of the final movement of the First Piano Concerto. It is, therefore, the most dramatic and tempestuous movement. The Andante is based on a lilting, bittersweet melody which Brahms introduces here as a cello solo. Brahms used the melody in his song ‘Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer’. Death and lost love are the themes there. But just as the arrival of spring ultimately brings comfort in that song, hope and comfort also prevail in this third movement. The final movement seems to want to touch upon once more all the emotions and imagery that have been explored previously: from graceful lyricism to the grand, sweeping drama of the conclusion. Alexander Klapwijk
Photo: Peter Rigaud
Photo: Julia Wesely
Tarmo Peltokoski • Principal Guest Conductor
Yuja Wang • piano
Born: Vaasa, Finland Current position: Music Director Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Conductor Laureate Latvia National Symphony Orchestra Education: piano at Kuula College (Vaasa) and the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), conducting with Jorma Panula, Sakari Oramo, Hannu Lintu and Jukka-Pekka Saraste Breakthrough: 2022: positions in Bremen, Riga, Rotterdam, and Toulouse Subsequently: debuts with Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, RSO Berlin, Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin, SWR Symphonieorchester, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philarmonique de Radio France, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, London Philharmonic Orchestra Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2022
Born: Beijing, China Education: Conservatory of Beijing; Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Gary Graffman Awards: Musical America’s Artist of the Year 2017 Breakthrough: 2007 with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, substituting for Martha Argerich with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit Solo appearances with: the major orchestras of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington, New York, Staatskapelle Dresden, Berliner Philharmoniker, Münchner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Artist in Residence: Carnegie Hall New York, Wiener Konzerthaus, Philharmonie Luxemburg; Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in the 2021/22 season Chamber music: with Gautier Capuçon (cello) and Andreas Ottensamer (clarinet) Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2018
Agenda
Musicians Rosalinde Kluck León van den Berg Olfje van der Klein Jan Navarro Jutta Demuynck
Fri 30 October 2026 • 20.15 Sun 1 November 2026 • 14.15 conductor Maxim Emelyanychev piano Alexander Melnikov Prokofiev Lieutenant Kijé Suite Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 Beethoven Symphony No. 1
Honorary Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin Lahav Shani
Thu 5 November 2026 20.15 conductor Brad Lubman director Anne Kauffman production design Jeff Sugg chorus Nationale Koren viola Roman Spitzer Stravinsky Elegy Wolfe Fire in my mouth (NL premiere)
First Violin Bassoon/ Marieke Blankestijn, Contrabassoon Concert Master Elias Agsteribbe Vlad Stanculeasa, Concert Master Horn Quirine Scheffers David Fernández Alonso Saskia Otto Felipe Freitas Maria Dingjan Wendy Leliveld Marie-José Schrijner Richard Speetjens Noëmi Bodden Laurens Otto Petra Visser Pierre Buizer Double Bass Sophia Torrenga Matthew Midgley Hadewijch Hofland Trumpet Ying Lai Green Annerien Stuker Alex Elia Jonathan Focquaert Alexandra van Beveren Arjen Leendertz Adrián Martínez Marie Duquesnoy Simon Wierenga Ricardo Neto Sarah Decamps Javier Clemen Martínez Giovanni Giardinella Mario Fernández Second Violin Trombone Charlotte Potgieter Pierre Volders Flute Laurens van Vliet Alexander Verbeek Juliette Hurel Elina Staphorsius Remko de Jager Joséphine Olech Jun Yi Dou Manon Gayet Bob Bruyn Bass trombone Eefje Habraken Rommert Groenhof Flute/Piccolo Maija Reinikainen Beatriz Baião Babette van den Berg Tuba Melanie Broers Martijn van Rijswijk Oboe Robin Veldman Karel Schoofs Timpani/ Annija Kolerta Jesús Pinillos Rivera Percussion Anja van der Maten Danny van de Wal Viola Anne Huser Oboe/Cor Anglais Ronald Ent Martijn Boom Roman Spitzer Ron Tijhuis Jesús Iberti Rubira Galahad Samson José Moura Nunes Clarinet Harp Kerstin Bonk Julien Hervé Albane Baron Janine Baller Bruno Bonansea Veronika Lénártová Alberto Sánchez García
Resonance Thu 12 november 2026 • 19.30 Maaspodium Rotterdam Ensemble Rotterdam Philharmonic dance Maas Theater en Dans concept and direction Jolanda Spoel Fri 13 November 2026 • 20.15 conductor Arie van Beek Laurenskerk Rotterdam Stravinsky Symphonies d’instruments à vent Debussy Syrinx De Leeuw Symphonies of Winds Messiaen Et exspecto ressurrectionem mortuorum
Principal Guest Conductor Tarmo Peltokoski
Cello Emanuele Silvestri Gustaw Bafeltowski Joanna Pachucka Daniel Petrovitsch Mario Rio Eelco Beinema Carla Schrijner Pepijn Meeuws Yi-Ting Fang Killian White Paul Stavridis
Clarinet/ Bass Clarinet Romke-Jan Wijmenga Bassoon Pieter Nuytten Lola Descours Marianne Prommel