When Johannes Brahms completed his Piano Concerto No. 1, he had just gone through a phase of intensive studies of Haydn’s work. He could have learnt how to enthral an audience from Haydn’s youthful symphony in D major “with the horn signal”; however, when he presented his Piano Concerto in D minor in Leipzig in 1859, it was the biggest failure of his life. Today, this catastrophe has long faded: Heinrich Schiff, along with Bernd Glemser, indulges in Brahms – but just to be on the safe side, he starts off with Haydn.

Pre-concert talk at the Stefaniensaal at 7.15 pm.