Strauss & Brahms with Alisa Weilerstein by Various, Alates (2022/2022), Dirigent Jordan de Souza, South Bank Centre, London, United Kingdom

Cervantes’ daydreaming knight and his long-suffering sidekick Sancho Panza (represented by a quirky combination of viola, tenor tuba and bass clarinet) encounter vividly drawn windmills, dragons, and an army of sheep. But most striking of all is Strauss’ sympathetic portrayal of Don Quixote’s wandering, idealistic mind. Brahms’ Fourth Symphony is masterful music from a composer at the top of his game. Brahms called it ‘my sad symphony’, but this modest adjective belies the composer’s emotional range and consummate structural skill. His friend, the critic Eduard Hanslick, put it better: ‘It is like a dark well; the longer we look into it, the more brightly the stars shine back.’ Jordan de Souza, who conducted the Philharmonia in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier at Garsington Opera last year, makes his Royal Festival Hall debut.