Brahms’s First Symphony | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

After 30 years in the top flight of the world’s violinists, Tasmin Little is retiring as a soloist. One of the most engaging performers you’ll see, she’ll be hugely missed. For her final curtain call she’ll be playing Dvorák’s vibrant Violin Concerto, the piece that launched her career in 1990. It’s an ardently romantic piece built on great melodies and with echoes of Brahms, but with a distinctive Czech accent.

The rest of the programme combines Russian drama with Germanic passion. Borodin’s opera Prince Igor was left incomplete when he died but its lively, free-flowing overture has never lost its appeal. Brahms’s First Symphony may have taken over twenty years to complete, so fearful was he of being unfavourably compared with Beethoven, but its titanic opening, driven by thunderous timpani and thrilling, soaring strings, immediately blows away any doubts. It features an achingly beautiful slow movement and genial allegretto, leading to a magnificent finale featuring one of the most stirring melodies in orchestral music.

Pre-concert talk 6.30-7pm: Dr Keith Chapin illustrates and discusses the programme