Tonight's programme finds Brahms at his most radiantly inspired and upbeat. The ebullient Academic Festival Overture raises the curtain on one of the great violin concertos, which soars aloft with ecstatic brilliance. When working on his sublime Second Symphony, Brahms wrote contentedly to a friend: 'The melodies flow so freely that one must be careful not to tread on them.'
More concerts at Royal Festival Hall:
Wagner 200 in London
May 22 2013, 19:30 - Royal Festival Hall
Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Wagner's birth, Sir Andrew Davis conducts excerpts from Wagner's Die Meistersingerand Die Walküre
Pre-concert talk
May 30 2013, 18:00 - Royal Festival Hall
Professor Jonathan Cross introduces the evening’s programme.










