‪@ChloeChuaviolinist‬ and Ng Pei-Sian in Brahms's Double Concerto (Allegro)

This work was Brahms’s last orchestral work after his Fourth Symphony in 1885, and he was not to write any more till his death in 1897. The opening Allegro begins in dramatic fashion, with the cello solo setting the scene before the violin enters and almost merges with the cello, offering chordal combinations and smoothly passing phrases to the other, showing that the combined instruments made for a true super-instrument. It is not hard to see Brahms expressing in music his desire for reconciliation. Extensive use of the A-E-F motif may be explained by it being a permutation of F-A-E, Joachim Joseph’s personal motto Frei aber einsam (“Free but lonely”). As Joachim and Hausmann were the soloists at the premiere, the former could not have missed these clues. Here, the violin and violoncello work together, sometimes playing in tandem, sometimes in counterpoint, completing each other’s phrases, but always as a team against the orchestra. (Edward C. Yong)

Chloe Chua, violin
Ng Pei-Sian, cello (Principal Cello and The HEAD Foundation Chair, Singapore Symphony)
Hans Graf, Quantedge Music Director
Singapore Symphony Orchestra