Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Aurel Dawidiuk

At the age of 26, the award-winning German conductor Aurel Dawidiuk has already come a long way in his profession — he has been a permanent guest conductor with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam for two years.

Now the Hanoverian is visiting us for the first time and starts the program with Brahms' playful Haydn Variations. He, in turn, has become an integral part of the cello repertoire — it's hard to believe that the well-known virtuoso C major concerto was only discovered in Prague in 1961, after it was considered lost since Haydn's lifetime. The concert hall is played by the young, Russian-born cello soloist Anastasia Kobekina, who has lived in Germany since 2012.

This is followed by Robert Schumann's Fourth, the first version of which was completed in 1841 after three months for his wife Clara's birthday in September. She described the first spring-like working days at Schumann in her marriage diary: “I [...] sometimes hear the D minor sound wildly from afar, that I know in advance that this is once again a work created from the bottom of my soul.” The audience was less enthusiastic at first. From 1851 — two published symphonies later — he then heavily reworked his only minor symphony. Clara clearly liked the result better, but Brahms preferred the first version by far.

Program: Johannes Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn in B-flat major op. 56a; Joseph Haydn: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in C major Hob VIIb:1; Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 4 in D minor op. 120