Christoph Eschenbach conducts Beethoven and Brahms

Christoph Eschenbach conducts Beethoven and Brahms

In this concert, our honorary conductor guides us through a programme that brings to mind Goethe: »A thousand and a thousand thoughts rise and sink within me. My soul is like an everlasting firework without rest.« Beethoven could certainly have said the same thing about his hot-tempered disposition and extreme mood swings. His violin concerto was composed in 1806 – but he wrote down his many ideas for it so late that the premiere violinist had to play this rather difficult piece almost from sight. It is characterised by a spirit that is certainly reminiscent of the proverb that nowadays goes by the motto »Himmelhoch jauchzend, zu Tode betrübt« (»rejoicing to the skies, saddened to death«). A masterpiece from the history of music, for which we welcome as soloist María Dueñas, an »Andalusian violin miracle«: it is said of the young virtuoso that she elicits »a soulful and at times a fiery sound« from her instrument. Beethoven‘s groundbreaking compositions were both a curse and a blessing for the following generations – including Brahms, who confided to a friend: »You have no idea how it makes all of us feel to hear such a giant marching behind you all the time.« But on the other hand, Beethoven was also seen as his great role model. Nevertheless, it took Brahms a very long time to complete his first symphony: he spent 14 years crafting it, with interruptions from 1862 to 1876. And then, after this fierce symphonic struggle, there was finally lots of balm for his soul: Hans von Bülow was so enthusiastic about the First that he exuberantly described it as »Beethoven‘s Tenth«. The work is a stroke of genius: from the fateful conflict in the opening to the emotional triumph in the final movement – and all in all an enchanting journey of discovery with many interwoven insights.

Christoph Eschenbach dirigiert Elgar und Brahms

Daniel Barenboim conducts Beethoven and Brahms

Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich: two world stars who have known and appreciated each other since their childhood together in Argentina. However, it is only in the past few years they have performed together with the Berliner Philharmoniker – always impressing listeners with their musical and human connection. This season, Martha Argerich will be the soloist in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a work which exudes a youthful vigour. Daniel Barenboim – honorary conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker – also conducts Johannes Brahms' profound and intense Fourth Symphony.

Daniel Barenboim conducts Beethoven and Brahms

Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich: two world stars who have known and appreciated each other since their childhood together in Argentina. However, it is only in the past few years they have performed together with the Berliner Philharmoniker – always impressing listeners with their musical and human connection. This season, Martha Argerich will be the soloist in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a work which exudes a youthful vigour. Daniel Barenboim – honorary conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker – also conducts Johannes Brahms' profound and intense Fourth Symphony.

Daniel Barenboim conducts Beethoven and Brahms

Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich: two world stars who have known and appreciated each other since their childhood together in Argentina. However, it is only in the past few years they have performed together with the Berliner Philharmoniker – always impressing listeners with their musical and human connection. This season, Martha Argerich will be the soloist in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a work which exudes a youthful vigour. Daniel Barenboim – honorary conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker – also conducts Johannes Brahms' profound and intense Fourth Symphony.

Christoph Eschenbach, Christian Schmitt

Happy 85th birthday on 20 February 2025! We wish this to our Honorary Conductor, for whom one thing is for sure: »Music gives you youth, freshness and lots of new beginnings.« Christoph Eschenbach always leaves an impression with his unmistakable aura: he is not a podium matador by any means, but rather comes across at times like a Buddhist monk with his convincing gestures and penetrating eyes full of warm-heartedness. A conductor who prefers silence rather than many words – and one who sees himself as a »musician among musicians«. This results in captivating interpretations with a great sense of mutual understanding, including such works close to his heart as in this year’s programme: Christoph Eschenbach once said that Bruckner was one of his »greatest treasures«. He discovered his love for Bruckner’s music while listening to a radio programme as a boy. And it still fascinates him to this day, so he explores the fascination of Bruckner’s first work with us – this »cheeky little fellow«. It is truly a great blessing that we have been able to come together with such a charismatic artistic personality for such a long time. It is like a longstanding and very close love affair that is constantly being revitalised – also with Saint-Saëns’ »Organ Symphony«: this powerful piece was recorded with Christoph Eschenbach and our orchestra at the Bamberg Cathedral back in 1987 for an audio release. We have every reason to be excited about how the work will sound together with our house organist Christian Schmitt on the concert organ our audience loves so much – after all, our Honorary Conductor remains curious in his old age: »I want to still be conducting when I’m 100, because I might be able to discover even more at the age of 99 than I can at the moment.«

Christoph Eschenbach, Christian Schmitt

Happy 85th birthday on 20 February 2025! We wish this to our Honorary Conductor, for whom one thing is for sure: »Music gives you youth, freshness and lots of new beginnings.« Christoph Eschenbach always leaves an impression with his unmistakable aura: he is not a podium matador by any means, but rather comes across at times like a Buddhist monk with his convincing gestures and penetrating eyes full of warm-heartedness. A conductor who prefers silence rather than many words – and one who sees himself as a »musician among musicians«. This results in captivating interpretations with a great sense of mutual understanding, including such works close to his heart as in this year’s programme: Christoph Eschenbach once said that Bruckner was one of his »greatest treasures«. He discovered his love for Bruckner’s music while listening to a radio programme as a boy. And it still fascinates him to this day, so he explores the fascination of Bruckner’s first work with us – this »cheeky little fellow«. It is truly a great blessing that we have been able to come together with such a charismatic artistic personality for such a long time. It is like a longstanding and very close love affair that is constantly being revitalised – also with Saint-Saëns’ »Organ Symphony«: this powerful piece was recorded with Christoph Eschenbach and our orchestra at the Bamberg Cathedral back in 1987 for an audio release. We have every reason to be excited about how the work will sound together with our house organist Christian Schmitt on the concert organ our audience loves so much – after all, our Honorary Conductor remains curious in his old age: »I want to still be conducting when I’m 100, because I might be able to discover even more at the age of 99 than I can at the moment.«

Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Christoph Eschenbach

Congratulations, dear Christoph Eschenbach: we are honouring our former chief conductor, who led the Konzerthausorchester Berlin from autumn 2019 to summer 2023, on his 85th birthday with a concert in which he will be conducting in the Große Saal, of course.For this special occasion, he has chosen a work of a composer who had late start: Anton Bruckner (1824 - 1896) did not begin writing symphonies until he was over 40 years old. The fact that he, like Beethoven, came up with a total of nine ‘cathedrals of never-before-heard sounds’ (Lorin Maazel) despite this is a real miracle - and doubly so in view of his self-doubting character: he actually completed the final version of the Sixth within two years. He called it his ‘cheekiest’ symphony, and as such it does not rise slowly from a musical primordial fog, but begins directly and with an accentuated rhythm. It was premièred in parts in 1883, heavily abridged in 1899 and not performed in its entirety until 1935. Bruckner was only able to hear it once in its entirety during an orchestral rehearsal.

Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Christoph Eschenbach

Our former chief conductor Christoph Eschenbach is back on the podium of the Konzerthausorchester and is bringing a highly talented young pianist with him: The 20-year-old Simon Haje will play Beethoven's fourth piano concerto from 1805, which already points in the direction of Romanticism. Robert Schumann was not the only one who loved the work, which is the first of its genre to begin directly with the solo instrument. The audience also liked it extraordinarily well straight away. Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 did not fare so well at first, which is why the easily unsettled composer revised it more often than any other of his nine symphonies. It was not until 1890 (17 years after the completion of the first version) that musicians and Viennese audiences finally stopped objecting and the work was finalised!