Manacorda, Ferlesch, Schade, Singakademie / Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Schumann, Brahms by Mendelssohn, Brahms, De (2018/2018), Director Antonello Manacorda, Wiener Konzerthaus, Viena, Austria

It is said that not one of the librettos submitted to Johannes Brahms was deemed to be acceptable by the composer; thus not a single opera is to be found within the composer's rich oeuvre, and one can only speculate as to how a Brahms opera might have sounded. The potential power of such a composition can, however, be imagined in his cantata Rinaldo. With Michael Schade, the Wiener Singakademie and conductor Antonello Manacorda, the Vienna Symphony allows this rare treasure to be heard once again. "I would sacrifice all my compositions if I could have written such an overture as Mendelssohn's Hebrides," Brahms is said to have remarked admiringly of the piece. Mendelssohn is considered the founder of the programatic concert overture; the Hebrides is his second such work, after his overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream.