In 1880, Brahms fell-out with one of his closest friends and collaborators, Joseph Joachim, siding with the violinist’s wife when she was accused of having an affair. Seven years later, Brahms was determined to rebuild his relationship with his former friend. He did so via the perfect gift: a new concerto in which solo violin is entwined with solo cello in the ultimate symbol of companionship.

Plenty failed to comprehend the score, which Brahms handed to Joachim with a handwritten dedication. But the violinist understood the music’s journey from gruff beginnings to glowing sweetness and ultimate conviviality.

Winner of the 2025 Herbert von Karajan award, Christian Blex, conducts two outstanding soloists in Brahms’s concerto in between a beautiful morsel extracted from Ørjan Matre’s Concerto for Orchestra and then some of the most advanced, thrilling and evocative orchestral music from Wagner’s Ring – orchestral excerpts from Götterdämmerung, a tale of betrayal and renewal and a landmark of musical storytelling in which a huge symphony orchestra provides the most impactful cinematography imaginable.