Brahms & Zemlinsky

«One laughs, the other weeps»: Johannes Brahms’s typically tongue-in-cheek description of the relationship between his Academic Festival Overture, which Fabien Gabel put on the programme two weeks ago, and the gripping, sombre Tragic Overture heard tonight. This fits perfectly with Thomas Larcher’s cello concerto «returning into darkness»,* written for the fabulous Alisa Weilerstein and enjoying its Austrian premiere in this concert: «A journey that begins with a glissando out of silence and ends with a glissando into silence», is how the Tyrolean composer describes this work, which also harmonises with Alexander Zemlinsky’s sad and beautiful fairytale fantasy «Die Seejungfrau» (The Mermaid). And harmony has long characterised the collaboration between Larcher, Gabel, Weilerstein and the Tonkunstler Orchestra – this is music-making in a spirit of friendship.

* Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress in memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Tonkunstler Orchestra and the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest

Austrian premiere on 28 November 2026 in the Musikverein Wien