The Chamber Orchestra of Europe's second pairing of Brahms masterworks opens with a work long central to Emanuel Ax's repertoire which he has recorded with tonight's conductor. Brahms's Second Piano Concerto is even bigger in scale than the First and just as technically demanding.

After the interval, the composer's astonishing final symphony, where the balance between expressiveness and iron structural control is most perfectly maintained.

It ends with an imposing set of variations, Brahms's late-Romantic take on the Baroque-style passacaglia, which uses material borrowed from J. S. Bach.

Saturday 20 August

7.30pm – c. 9.40pm

Royal Albert Hall

Piano music

Brahms

Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major (50 mins)

INTERVAL

Brahms

Symphony No. 4 in E minor (42 mins)

Emanuel Ax piano

Chamber Orchestra of Europe

Bernard Haitink conductor