Brahms 4

There will be a Starter prior to this concert. You can attend this in the Swing on the second floor to the left of cloakroom. The Starter starts 45 minutes before the concert begins.

Willem Jeths (1959)
Suite 'Ritratto' (2021) 

Willem Jeth's operaRitratto -Italian for "portrait" - tells the story of the excessively wealthy Italian marquise Luisa Casati. She was famous for the lavish parties she organized and had her portraits or photographs taken by numerous artists. With her black-rimmed eyes, flaming red hair and eccentric behavior, she tried to gain a place in the art world. Against the background of the outbreak of World War I, the libretto questions the importance of art. At a party, all kinds of artists from Casati's time gather. Casati does not engage with worldly problems and focuses blindly on her passion.  

After an online world premiere in March 2020, the production still premiered offline in October 2021 at De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, with the Residentie Orkest in the orchestra pit. That same year also saw the completion of a suite that will be heard for the first time tonight at Amare . 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Piano ConcertoNo. 25 in C, KV 503 (1786) 

• Allegro maestoso 

• Andante 

• Allegretto 

As carefree as Mozart began his life in Vienna, pampered by Madame Weber's daughters and encouraged by his first great successes, he was as puckered four years later. On March 12, 1785, he wrote to his sister Nannerl: "We are never in bed before one o'clock in the morning, never get up before nine and have lunch at two, two-thirty. Every day concerts, every day lessons, composing, and so on. Since I've been here, your brother's pianoforte has been taken from here to the theater or elsewhere a dozen times." The new-fangled fortepiano has Mozart's undivided interest and inspired him to compose a large number of compositions of exceptional quality, mainly for his own use. In his twelve "great concertos," as he himself called them, he is constantly revisiting the concept of the piano concerto. In general, the possibilities of the fortepiano are beautifully exploited and the solo part is cunningly woven together with that of the orchestra, so that there is a real dialogue between equal 'conversation partners'. Similarly, Piano Concerto no. 25, the grand finale of these twelve great concertos, all created in an improbably short period of time (between 1784 and 1786). On December 4, 1786, Mozart laid the Last hand on this piano concerto, which is the most extensive of the series. The harmonic structure, the continuous alternation between major and minor, the witty dialogue between piano and orchestra, the frequent use of the pedal point and the abundant melodies give the work its entirely unique character. 

At intermission, we will serve a complimentary drink.

Hugo Bell (1992)
One Minute Symphony: Offer Thy Time, Duration Thy Minute (2023) 

The One Minute Symphony by young composer Hugo Bell was inspired by the architectural philosophy of Hendrik Petrus Berlage, who emphasized the social function of architecture and the relationship between a building and its surroundings. The title of the work is derived from two phrases engraved on the towers of the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam: "Bide your time" and "Duration your hour," adapted for this occasion to "Duration your minute. The One Minute Symphony was also inspired by a meeting with Paul Broekhoff, business director of the Art Museum, in which he revealed the main principles of the building: a formalized architectural structure based on an 11:1 ratio, a desire to create a space in which people can lose themselves, and the unique Style Rooms containing both historical artifacts and contemporary works of art. This piece combines all of these ideas. The harmony is based on the 11:1 ratio, traditional collective time perception is abandoned to allow the musicians to "lose themselves" in time, and material is borrowed from Brahms 4 to create a musical Style Room. 

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 4 in E, op. 98 (1885) 

• Allegro non troppo 

• Andante moderato 

• Allegro giocoso 

• Allegro energico e passionato 

By nature very self-critical, Johannes Brahms approached the composition of a symphony with great care and policy. Surely he could not fall below the standard set by Beethoven for this musical form. Consequently, it took no less than 21 years to complete his First Symphony in 1876. The next two symphonies then rolled smoothly from his quill, and the Fourth was also completed in two summer vacations (Brahms had the routine of giving concerts as a conductor and soloist in the winter and composing in the summer). Nevertheless, the composer remained critical of himself as evidenced by the way he commented on the manuscript he sent to friend Elisabeth von Herzogenberg: "I wonder if you have the patience to sit out the Finale." Those doubts would prove unfounded, for the symphony received a very positive reception at its premiere and would not much later be performed in Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague. 

Brahms shows in his Fourth Symphony that he once again knows how to deal compactly with his melodic material. For example, the first movement is brought to life in a very simple way: with a set of descending and ascending thirds, later described as a sense of ebb and flow. After a lilting, subdued second movement and a droll Scherzo with dynamic accents that mock the time signature, there follows the Finale. It was this movement with which Brahms amazed friend and foe alike at the premiere. Who expected the 52-year-old master to resort to archaic means of expression, such as the Baroque passacaglia and the seventeenth-century variation form? Throughout the fourth movement, an eight-measure melody borrowed from Bach's Cantata No. 150 "Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich" sounds as an unchanging foundation in the bass. With the thirty variations on this bass line, Brahms monumentally concludes his symphonic oeuvre.