Digital Program

Sun 18.05. Vladimir Jurowski

8 PM Philharmonie

Ludwig van Beethoven

Overture “Egmont”

Frédéric Chopin

Piano Concerto No. 2

Intermission

Johannes Brahms

Symphony No. 4

Cast

Vladimir Jurowski, Conductor
Yunchan Lim, Piano
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

Concert introduction: 7:10 PM, South Foyer, concert introduction by Steffen Georgi

Concert broadcast: The concert will be broadcast live on May 18, 2025, at 8:03 PM on rbb's radio 3.

Finally here: Brahms' Fourth

In the Land of the Rising Sun, it was just heard twice: the final, fourth symphony by Johannes Brahms. Now it returns to Berlin with the RSB. Vladimir Jurowski continues his Brahms cycle with his Berlin ensemble, pairing the composer’s symphonic life’s work—crafted by a Hamburg native turned honorary Viennese—with the musical portrait of the Dutch patriot Egmont, drawn by none other than another adopted Viennese from Bonn: Ludwig van Beethoven.

Yunchan Lim, the young South Korean pianist who currently seems to split his time between Vienna, Paris, London, Berlin, Washington, New York, and Tokyo in order to meet the most prestigious concert invitations, makes his debut with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin performing the very work by Fryderyk Chopin that distinguished him from contemporaries like Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Liszt—and cemented his legacy as Poland’s national composer.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Overture to Goethe’s Tragedy "Egmont" in F minor, Op. 84

“You are a hothead, Beethoven.”

Shaking his head, the great poet Goethe approached the great composer Beethoven, who—disregarding the Emperor and Empress—stormed ahead, while the cool and calculating Goethe stepped aside with deference. This story is said to have taken place in 1812 in Teplitz. The word artist continued to lecture the musician: "You find the world detestable, and not without reason, but by doing so, you make it neither more enjoyable for yourself nor for others." Beethoven replied to Goethe: "I have been waiting for you, Excellency, because I honor and respect you as you deserve, but to those others, you have shown too much honor."

As if the passionate free spirit Beethoven would ever sacrifice his convictions for pleasure – and certainly not for the pleasure of others! Unyielding to the point of obstinacy, he defied potentates, fellow artists, and even his own health – a stubborn man who spared no discomfort in pursuit of his message. On this, the charming diplomat Goethe could only smile wryly.

One year before Beethoven's first and only personal encounter with Goethe, Beethoven had sent his Egmont music to Weimar, writing, “... this magnificent Egmont, which I, as warmly as I read it, have thought of, felt, and given in music through you—I am very eager to hear your opinion on it” (April 12, 1811). Goethe responded to the submission with the curt remark, “Beethoven has entered my intentions with admirable genius.”

Virus of Freedom: Betrayal

Napoleon spread his glory across all of Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. The same man to whom Beethoven originally intended to dedicate his Symphony No. 3 had elevated himself to emperor, aiming to force the continent under his boot. In sharp rebellion against this, Beethoven’s spirit of freedom rose vehemently. In 1809, the commission from the Viennese theater director Joseph Hartl von Luchsenstein came just in time, to provide a musical score for Goethe’s tragedy "Egmont". For half a year, Beethoven immersed himself in the play about the historical figure of the Dutch Count Egmont and his fight against the Spanish oppressors. Focusing the current political situation like a magnifying glass, Beethoven created a musical monument to the freedom fighter as a symbol of indomitable resistance. After composing four interlude pieces, two songs, and the final monologue of Egmont with the victory symphony, he also wrote an overture, which, in its three-part structure, mirrored the uprising of the Dutch people.

First, the Spanish oppressors are depicted in the form of a sarabande (a slow Spanish court dance). Then, one hears the suffering and despair of the Dutch, who must endure under the rule of Duke Alba. This is followed by increasingly powerful tones of organized resistance in the legacy of the Dutch leader Egmont, who was executed by the Spanish in 1568. In the end, there is the victory over the occupiers, embodied by a triumphant hymn, indebted to the military gesture of French Revolutionary music. In this way, Beethoven exposes the contemporary conqueror Napoleon, who has betrayed his own ideals.

Beethoven composed a total of ten overtures, written between 1801 ("Prometheus") and 1822 ("The Consecration of the House"). "Egmont" stands out as a relatively short but all the more striking symphonic work.

A larger, indeed a humanity-embracing symphonic work by Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, was performed by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin 80 years ago today, on May 18, 1945, together with surviving colleagues from other orchestras and singers from the destroyed Berlin, at the House of Broadcasting on Masurenallee. The building was the only one of the renowned cultural institutions in Berlin to have survived the Second World War unscathed and, just ten days after the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht and with the explicit approval of the Soviet occupation forces, became the venue for the very first post-war concert in the capital.

Frédéric Chopin

Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21

When the Piano Grows Wings

"To the piano, I say what I would often say to you." It was a quiet, unspoken love that drove the 19-year-old Fryderyk Chopin to compose as if possessed. The passionate affections of the young pianist were directed towards the young singer Konstancja Gladkowska. These feelings found their expression in the two piano concertos, which were composed closely together in 1829 and 1830. The usual numbering of the concertos does not correspond to the chronology of their creation, but rather reflects the fact that the F minor concerto was published second. Together with a few other works, these two concertos form the small group of compositions that Chopin did not write exclusively for the piano.

Konstancja Gladkowska

However, Chopin never existed without the piano. This was also true for his public presence in the concert halls and salons from Warsaw to Paris. There, he earned the reputation of a dazzling pianist, before whom even colleagues such as Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and Robert Schumann respectfully tipped their hats. With his sonatas, polonaises, mazurkas, nocturnes, ballads, waltzes, scherzos, and études, Chopin entrusted the piano with secrets previously unknown. He had at his disposal a distinctive personal style. With the numerous solo works he left behind, especially the so-called “exercises” or études, Chopin had a profound influence on subsequent generations of composers, from Liszt to Scriabin and even to Prokofiev.

Why Frédéric is also called Fryderyk

Of French-Polish descent, born in Poland, and having achieved worldwide fame in France – Fryderyk (or French: Frédéric) Chopin, like no one before him, introduced the Polish idiom into classical music and preserved it as a national identity. His polonaises and mazurkas sing the song of his people's glory, victory, defeat, and sorrow at a time when Poland’s statehood had been erased and the country was divided among the powerful neighbors Russia, Prussia, and the equally greedy Habsburg Austria. As a sympathizer of the Polish revolutionaries, such as Adam Mickiewicz and Prince Czartoryski, who as émigrés made the "national question" of Poland known in Western Europe, Chopin made the difficult decision to leave his homeland. "All that is left for me is to say goodbye – and that is the worst… I have the feeling that I will never see this house again when I leave Warsaw. And that I am leaving to die." His final concert took place on October 11, 1830, at the National Theatre. Three weeks after this last concert, Chopin left Poland for good. During his departure, the so-called November Uprising against Russian foreign rule began. This and later Polish uprisings were suppressed, and all efforts for autonomy were violently crushed. Chopin suffered deeply from the developments in his homeland. However, he did not rebel fiercely but, in accordance with his nature, chose soft yet clear tones. The compositions of the last nine years of his life are unmistakably marked by his deep connection to his suppressed homeland, which he would never see again.

What Rossini Could Not Do

It is said that the brilliant pianistic talent never truly applied himself to the art of instrumentation. While this may be true, it does not mean that Chopin did not master this art. The instrumentation of the F minor concerto skillfully highlights the finely crafted structure and emotional dynamics of the work. The various themes correspond in contrasting colors, and the orchestral sound includes chamber-music-like dialogues, among which those between the bassoon and the piano are particularly notable.

These elements contribute to the appeal of the concerto, but they are neither unexpected nor new. Chopin’s innovations lie elsewhere, in the sensitive, detailed piano writing, the expressive ornamentation, and the fragmented harmony. Moreover, Chopin possesses an extraordinarily brilliant virtuosity, which he handles so naturally and unobtrusively that it outshines all the vain self-promoters among his colleagues.

By the second movement’s middle section of the F minor concerto – which slips between two verses of the song-like main theme – one can hear the fascination Chopin had for Italian opera. Over the rumbling string tremolos, an instrumental recitative rises, a passionate declamation. Suddenly, a simple variation sequence turns into a dramatic stage scene. The four introductory measures of the orchestra thus acquire their meaning. The aforementioned Konstantija was a passable Rossini singer. Chopin mentions thinking of her while composing the two piano concertos. However, the phenomenon of Rossini influenced Fryderyk Chopin’s work far beyond that, no less than that of Franz Schubert and many other contemporaries. The pearl strings of Chopin's piano style recall the richly colored and ornamented bel canto style of the Italian operas by Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, which were so popular at the time. In the A-flat major section of the F minor piano concerto, the young piano genius demonstrates how his richly figured bel canto can even surpass that of the human voice.

Mazurka Embraces Waltz

The finale then releases it, the Polish, the captivating. Yet the temperamental mazurka playfully engages with the charming neighbor behind the fence, the famous waltz from Vienna. Both are considered suspicious and immoral by their respective guardians of order.

In the first movement, the young Chopin already demonstrated that he had thoroughly learned and understood his craft. The sonata form is perfectly executed, delighting the musical sense with perfect proportions. Even more, it has something to say; it speaks its own individual language. For Chopin draws the theme from a vanishing point in the distance, quietly, beginning in unison, and the music moves toward us – and then away, opening up perspectives. Each of the four great composers born around 1810 achieved this in their own way: Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt. However, it is on the piano that their potential differentiates itself; Chopin speaks, whispers, and passionately dazzles with virtuosity like no other, using small, delicate figures.

Brahms

Falling Thirds

Without warning, the violins enter with the famous descending third. Simple tones in a plain rhythm, yet charged with intense tension. This entry must be soft—there is a sense of finality to it. Its character is innocent, yet it leads straight into the abyss. Is this the swaying of the final barque on the River Acheron? And is Brahms Charon, the ferryman to the underworld? Are we witnessing the counter-image to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony? No sonata form, no triadic cadences, no “through night to light” dramaturgy. Or do Handel and Bach speak through this symphony? The opening motif bears resemblance to the aria “Behold and see” from "Messiah". The final movement, by contrast, is a mighty chaconne—a strict set of variations on a theme from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata No. 150, "Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich" ("For Thee, O Lord, I long").

Through its treatment as a compendium of all his compositional skills, Brahms inevitably recalls Bach’s "Art of Fugue". Other analysts have noted parallels to Brahms’s song "O Death, how bitter you are" ("Four Serious Songs"), interpreting the descending third as a symbol of death. Indeed, this interval carries a gesture of farewell—a resigned wave, an exhale without an inhale.

But this motif was not always at the beginning of the symphony. At the world premiere on October 25, 1885—with the excellent Meiningen Orchestra conducted by Brahms himself—the descending third was still preceded by four introductory bars: two chords that defined the harmonic boundaries of the entire symphony. These formed what is known as a plagal cadence—a progression from the subdominant directly to the tonic, bypassing the usual, tension-laden dominant.

Together with motifs drawn from church modes and Phrygian harmonies, these elements shaped the often-described austere, archaic, and contemplative character of the Fourth Symphony. Yet Brahms expressly removed these introductory measures from the printed score, and they are no longer performed today. Their absence sharpens the impression of abruptness and enhances the final movement’s effect as an inescapable consequence—without Beethoven’s idea of triumphant resolution.

Free but lonely

The third may be regarded as the most important interval in Brahms’ music. His personal motto, “frei aber einsam” (“free but lonely”), which he internalized deeply at a young age, reflects a convergence of political developments, social experience, human relationships, and personal disposition. The notes F–A–E, derived from “frei aber einsam,” include the third interval and served as the motto for numerous works—mirrored, inverted, and transformed—until Brahms, in his Symphony No. 3, introduced a minor variant with two minor thirds: F–A♭–F.

Now, the opening of Symphony No. 4 consists of the note pairs B–G, E–C, A–F♯, D♯–B. Played consecutively, they span two full octaves of descending thirds! And as if to reinforce this tendency categorically, Brahms adds three descending octaves in a row (E–E, D–D, C–C). He could hardly have stated his intention more clearly.

Thus, the motto of the first movement is stated within just a few seconds. No secondary theme, no development, no recapitulation, no struggle, no progression. To reinforce this, the third-motif is subjected to every imaginable variation—rhythmically explored, dramatized through counterpoint, and harmonically recombined in ever-new ways. The final punctuation of the first movement is delivered by a sharply emphasized timpani-accented chord progression: subdominant to tonic—the previously mentioned plagal cadence that had once opened the symphony but was later removed.

On the expressive spectrum between elegiac resignation and Cassandra-like prophecy, the second movement belongs to the realm of remembrance—of past, better times. Simple melodic lines conceal the (now filled-in) thirds and quietly foreshadow the "tema ostinato" of the finale, seemingly innocent.

The scherzo is assigned the task of loudly painting the banalities of the present. Stubbornly syncopated, the movement barrels down upon us, as if rhythm itself—like a balky horse—were resisting the music. Moments of yearning horn melodies only underscore the prevailing expression. Blazing brass and mechanical rattling rein in anything unruly. And then, without warning, upon this well-prepared ground, the chromatic chord sequence of the finale arrives—inescapable. Thirty artfully contrapuntal variations do not lead to liberation but instead hurl us back, with the crushing conclusion, to the beginning.

Cold Fire

In Symphony No. 4, not only are the two explanatory introductory chords missing, but also any moments that could be considered superfluous. The symphony, one could say, is the composition of restraint. Even the structure is so unpretentious and immovably strict, almost "taught," that one can hardly grasp it fully on the first listen. No commentary, no redundancy, and certainly no verbosity – the symphony is sealed with the mark of coolness.

Eduard Hanslick felt "brutally beaten" by two terribly witty men during a preview performance (Johannes Brahms and Ignaz Brüll had played on two pianos). The composer himself warned Hans von Bülow about the symphony: "I fear it tastes of the local climate – the cherries here are not sweet, you wouldn't eat them!" Contemporary reactions to the new work were filled with reverence and admiration. Brahms was at the peak of his fame. And with this highly complex symphony, he moved far away from familiar territory. The entirely un-Beethovenian Fourth Symphony opened the door for 20th-century symphonic orchestral music.

Text © Steffen Georg

short biographies

Vladimir Jurowski

Vladimir Jurowski dirigiert.

Vladimir Jurowski has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) since 2017. In 2023/2024, his concerts, tours and recordings were the highlights of the “RSB100” anniversary season. His current contract in Berlin runs until 2027. At the same time, he has been General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich since 2021.

One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow in 1972, and completed the first part of his musical studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he relocated with his family to Germany, continuing his studies at the Musikhochschule of Dresden and Berlin, studying conducting with Rolf Reuter and vocal coaching with Semion Skigin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s “May Night”, and the same year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Nabucco. He was then First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997-2000).

In the UK, he was Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera from 2001 to 2013, leading a wide range of highly acclaimed productions. In 2021 Vladimir Jurowski stepped down from his highly-acclaimed fifteen year tenure as of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, to become their Conductor Emeritus. His close connection to British musical life was recognized by King Charles III in the spring of 2024 when he appointed Vladimir Jurowski Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE). In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the Royal Philharmonic Society. In 2020, Vladimir Jurowski's work as Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival was honoured by the Romanian President with the Order of Cultural Merit.

Until 2021 he was Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra "Yevgeny Svetlanov" of the Russian Federation and Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Great Britain, as well as Artistic Director of the George Enescu International Festival in Bucharest (2017 – 2021). He has also worked with the unitedberlin ensemble for many years. Vladimir Jurowski has suspended performances in Russia since February 2022.  Ukrainian works are and will remain part of his repertoire, as will works by Russian composers.

Vladimir Jurowski has conducted concerts with the leading orchestras in Europe and North America, including the Berlin, Vienna and New York Philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. He is a regular guest at the music festivals in London, Berlin, Dresden, Lucerne, Schleswig-Holstein and Grafenegg.

The joint CD recordings by Vladimir Jurowski and the RSB began in 2015 with Alfred Schnittke's Symphony No. 3, followed by works by Britten, Hindemith, Strauss, Mahler and again Schnittke. Vladimir Jurowski has received many awards for his achievements, including numerous international recording prizes.

Yunchan Lim

Since becoming the youngest person to ever win gold at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at the age of 18 in 2022, Yunchan Lim’s ascent to international stardom has been meteoric. Marin Alsop expressed: “Yunchan is that rare artist who brings profound musicality and prodigious technique organically together”.

In the years following his Cliburn win, Yunchan made successful orchestral debuts with the New York, Los Angeles, Munich, and Seoul Philharmonic orchestras, as well as Chicago, Lucerne, BBC, Boston, and Tokyo Symphony orchestras among others. Recital appearances include performances at Carnegie Hall, Verbier Festival, the Wigmore Hall, Het Concertgebouw, and Suntory Hall, among other major stages.

Lim’s 2024/25 season highlights include orchestral debuts with Washington National Symphony, London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, and WDR Symphony Orchestras, as well as returning to New York Philharmonic, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra Paris. This season will also see his recital debut at the Kennedy Center, and a return to Carnegie Hall.

As an exclusive Decca Classics recording artist, Yunchan Lim’s acclaimed debut studio album, Chopin Études Op. 10 & 25 has gone double platinum in South Korea and topped the classical charts around the world. His previous releases include Liszt’s Transcendental Études (Steinway & Sons); Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” (Universal Music Group); and his appearance on KBS’s 2020 Young Musicians of Korea album.

Born in Siheung, Korea, Yunchan Lim began piano lessons at age 7. He was accepted into the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts at age 13, where he met his teacher and mentor, Minsoo Sohn. In 2019, aged only 15, he became the youngest person to win Korea’s IsangYun International Competition. Yunchan currently studies at the New England Conservatory of Music with his teacher Minsoo Sohn.

RSB evening orchestra

Violin 1

Nebel, David
Ofer, Erez
Herzog, Susanne
Yoshikawa, Kosuke
Beckert, Philipp
Drechsel, Franziska
Feltz, Anne
Kynast, Karin
Morgunowa, Anna
Pflüger, Maria
Polle, Richard
Ries, Ferdinand
Stangorra, Christa-Maria
Shalyha, Bohdan

Violin 2

Contini, Nadine
Simon, Maximilian
Drop, David
Petzold, Sylvia
Buczkowski, Maciej
Draganov, Brigitte
Eßmann, Martin
Färber-Rambo, Juliane
Hetzel de Fonseka, Neela
Manyak, Juliane
Palascino, Enrico
Bauza, Rodrigo
Hagiwara, Arisa
Cazac, Cristina

Viola

Regueira-Caumel, Alejandro
Adrion, Gernot
Silber, Christiane
Zolotova, Elizaveta
Doubovikov, Alexey
Drop, Jana
Inoue, Yugo
Kantas, Dilhan
Montes, Carolina
Sullivan, Nancy

Cello

Eschenburg, Hans-Jakob
Hornig, Arthur
Breuninger, Jörg
Weiche, Volkmar
Albrecht, Peter
Boge, Georg
Kipp, Andreas
Weigle, Andreas
Kalvelage, Anna
Paetsch, Raphaela

Double bass

Wömmel-Stützer, Hermann
Wagner, Marvin
Figueiredo, Pedro
Ahrens, Iris
Gazale, Nhassim
Rau, Stefanie
Moon, Junha

icon

Flute

Schaaff, Ulf-Dieter
Schreiter, Markus

Oboe

Bastian, Gabriele
Herzog, Thomas

Clarinet

Link, Oliver
Kern Michael
Simpfendörfer, Florentine

Bassoon

You, Sung Kwon
Shih, Yisol
Kneisel, Markus

Horn

Ember, Daniel
Klinkhammer, Ingo
Mentzen, Anne
Stephan, Frank

Trumpet

Kupriianov, Roman
Niemand, Jörg

Trombone

Hölzl, Hannes
Hauer, Dominik
Vörös, József

Percussion

Tackmann, Frank

Timpani

Wahlich, Arndt

Image and video rights

Portraits Vladimir Jurowski © Peter Meisel
Portrait Yunchan Lim © James Hol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB1XpOOOvaA&t=1s

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