Jan Lisiecki, piano Bamberg Symphony Orchestra Jakub Hrůša, conductor

There was great uncertainty among composers: what could one still contribute to the symphony genre after Beethoven's Ninth? The self-doubting Brahms in particular struggled with this: "I will never compose a symphony! You have no idea how we feel when we always hear such a giant marching behind us," he wrote. How fortunate that Brahms ultimately gave the music world four magnificent symphonies, which we would like to present to our audience in an...