Berliner Philharmoniker at Lucerne Festival 2016 | Brahms, Dvořák, Anderson

Even if the music world is often dominated by rivalry, examples of genuine friendships can certainly be found. Take Johannes Brahms and Antonín Dvořák: a pair whose friendship was free of self-interest. “That fellow has more ideas than all the rest of us. Even what he tosses into the trash could serve as a main theme for anyone else,” Brahms once remarked about his Czech colleague, 8 years his junior – and he didn’t just stop at nice compliments.

In 1877 Brahms recommended his publisher Fritz Simrock to take on Dvořák, at the time a completely unknown composer from Prague. And sure enough, his first publication, the spirited Slavonic Dances, enjoyed a sensational success. The Berlin Philharmonic paid homage to this musical friendship by pairing Dvořák’s bravura score with the “summerly” Second Symphony of Brahms, also composed in 1877. And as an “appetizer” Sir Simon Rattle has commissioned a new work from his compatriot Julian Anderson, which provided a brief but substantial entrée into what followed.

Berliner Philharmoniker

Sir Simon Rattle conductor

Julian Anderson (*1967)
Incantesimi for orchestra (Swiss premiere)

Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904)
Slavonic Dances Op. 46

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 2 in D major Op. 7