Ronald Brautigam & Netherlands Chamber Orchestra: Brahms and the Schumanns

Ronald Brautigam, Gordan Nikolić and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra

Two dynamic musicians and a lively orchestra: pianist Ronald Brautigam, violinist Gordan Nikolić and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. Light, transparent and sparkling playing is often associated with the pianistic skills of Dutch piano pride Ronald Brautigam. Nikolić, leader of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, is an equally energetic player. Joining both forces provides a fresh dive into Romanticism, with Brahms and the Schumanns showing their best side.

Brahms and the Schumanns

What happens when an internationally famous artist couple receives a young man with breathtaking talent? Twenty-year-old Johannes Brahms presented himself in 1853 with an introduction to Robert (43, depressed) and Clara (33, renowned pianist, mother of five children) Schumann and came in like a lightning strike. There has been much speculation about the relationship between Johannes and Clara. Before Robert's tragic death in 1854, Brahms wrote passionate love letters, but after that, he seems to have stopped writing. He even fell in love with Clara's third daughter, Julie, for a while without doing anything about it. How important their friendship was to both is evident from the fact that Clara and Johannes spent their summers within a fifteen-minute walk of each other in Baden-Baden for ten years.