Mozart Brahms Eriksmoen Mena

Already as a 20-year-old, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) impressed the world with his compositions and musical maturity. His colleague Robert Schumann was so convinced of Brahms’ potential that he praised him publicly in the journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik as a man of the future. An overwhelmed Brahms wrote to Schumann that the expectations of him would now be so high that he did not know how to fulfill them.

Johannes Brahms really did live up to Robert Schumann’s expectations, but not within the lifetime of the latter. After Schumann’s death in 1856 it took another three years before Brahms’ first work for orchestra was performed; the first piano concerto. It was well-received, but his great breakthrough came only with Ein Deutsches Requiem in 1868. The notion of high expectations was embedded particularly well in one area: it took Brahms over 20 years from when he started working on his first symphony until he was satisfied with it in 1876.

After getting the first symphony out of his system, symphony number two progressed more quickly, and received its premiere on 30 December 1877. Brahms was now a giant in the music world, and the music fanatics of the time discussed heatedly who was superior - him or Richard Wagner. Despite his success, Brahms could be both self-critical and insecure, and in 1882 he is said to have remarked to his friend and publisher Fritz Simrock that he would not write any more music. Fortunately, he soon changed his mind …

As early as in 1853, Brahms wrote the “F-A-E” sonata for the violinist Joseph Joachim, together with Robert Schumann and Albert Dietrich. It is based on the tones F, A and E, which stand for Joachim’s motto “frei aber einsam”, free but lonely. Brahms turned it into his own motto: “F-A-F”, “frei aber froh”, free but happy. Usually, the motto is interpreted as a reference to the fact that he was still unmarried at the age of 50, but it can also be linked to the fact that he had no formal position - something which in his family hometown was viewed as rather undignified.

The F-A-F theme can be immediately heard in the first chords of the first movement, before it is repeated in the bass line under the main theme. The introduction is intense, but all four movements conclude relatively quietly. The second and third movements are muted in expression throughout; in the second, Brahms gives the clarinet - one of his favourite instruments - a prominent role. Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra’s concertmaster, Elise Båtnes, mentions the third movement when she writes about what she is looking forward to in this year’s season programme:

“…for me the third movement in the Third Symphony is the absolute highlight. There can’t be anything more beautiful than this…”

In addition to the music of Brahms, you will also hear some of Mozart’s most beautiful arias tonight. Mari Eriksmoen’s voice has led her to the international opera arena and to cities such as Vienna, where she has thrilled its demanding audience in several leading roles. The conductor tonight is Juanjo Mena, from Spain.