Brahms - Symphony n. 4 in E minor op. 98 16 - 23 April 2016, Formigine (Italy)

Always wanted but always postponed, Brahms' symphonies were in our minds for a very long time. We were never brave enough to take the final step, either remaining focused on coeval authors, such as Schumann or Dvořak, or approaching smaller compositions, such as the Haydn Variations, twenty minutes of wonderful music we played in Formigine a few years ago.
In a way the Fourth Symphony (1885) sums up Spira's musical development until now; in his last symphony Brahms, now mature and confident in his craft, faces the models and influences of the past, even the more remote and archaic ones, and combines them with his own personal expression, even reaching out to the musical century to come. Although precociously aged and more and more isolated, this Brahms is able to have a vision of the future of music.