Program
The first person to hear the Fourth was Schumann’s widow, Clara Wieck. Brahms was truly devoted to her and presented all his works to her in a version for piano or, as in this case, for two pianos. She recommended that he change it completely, that it would not be well received at all! Clara was wrong, fortunately, and the Fourth soon became the most popular of the composer’s work and still is to this day. His mentor, Robert Schumann, had predicted that Brahms would go far, as far as his Piano Concerto, which he premiered 170 years ago for Schumann’s wife Clara. The programme opens with the ballet music that Xavier Montsalvatge premiered in Barcelona in 1945, based on a poem by Lord Byron.