Brahms centenary – Festival in Vienna

The programme to download is substantial, as was the content of this festival organized in Vienna for the centenary of the birth of Brahms.

In addition to the inauguration, with speeches and music, there was to be a succession of concerts:

– The German Requiem, given twice, with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Singverein (the choir of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde),

– two symphonic concerts with the VPO: one with Schnabel in Concerto no 2, the other bringing together Hubermann and Casals in the Double Concerto,

– two chamber music concerts presenting the Trios and, with Hindemith (viola), the Piano Quartets.

The radio broadcast the Requiem and the First Symphony live.

With hindsight, we can see that this was the last time that Furtwängler accompanied the three soloists...

Hubermann, Casals and Hindemith; Schnabel at the piano. Rehearsal at the Imperial Hotel, May 1933