Beginning with a pastoral lightness, Mendelssohn’s concert overture based on a German folk legend, soon turns to darker harmonic terrain and assumes a more agitated air – urgent and impassioned with the violins, surely representing the doomed heroine of the tale. Mozart wrote the Symphony No.34 in the summer of 1780 at a time of frustrated pique during his last months working as a court musician in Salzburg. Yet it is one of his most exuberant and charming symphonies, opening with a bright, ceremonial fanfare, before developing into a blithe and bustling testament to his youthful genius, full of energy and verve. Brahms’ Third Symphony is more individual and characteristic than its two predecessors. In its striking mixture of passion and pessimism, of restlessness and serenity, Brahms offers a compelling, highly revealing musical self-portrait, rich with references to his own thoughts about life and love.

Ticket holders will gain free access to our Pre-Concert Talk featuring Andrew Burn, which will be available to view online from Monday 2 October.

Works and composers

Mendelssohn Die schöne Melusine Overture
Mozart Symphony No.34
Brahms Symphony No.3