Kirill Petrenko in conversation with Olaf Maninger (6 min.)

Chief conductor Kirill Petrenko describes the opening concert of the 2020/21 season in this interview as the “initial spark” for a long-term exploration of Johannes Brahms. Whether Brahms’ Fourth and last symphony would be able to be played at all that evening remained uncertain for a long time due to the spread of the coronavirus. All the greater was the joy that the performance could take place as planned. In an interview with the Philharmoniker’s principal cellist Olaf Maninger, Kirill Petrenko talks among other things about the challenge of developing his own Brahms style with his orchestra. Another topic of discussion is the connection between Brahms and Schoenberg, whose tone poem Verklärte Nacht, influenced by late-Romanticism, was also on the programme.