Concerto for Violin, Violoncello and Orchestra in A Minor, Op.102
With his Double Concerto for Violin und Violoncello in A Minor, Op.102, Johannes Brahms turned his attention to a form that had been nearly forgotten by the soloist-dominated culture of the Romantic Period. The outward occasion for this composition was the reconciliation with his long-time friend Joseph Joachim, for whom Brahms had already written his Violin Concerto. The world premiere, with the composer conducting, was on 18 October 1887 in Cologne.

Symphony No.1 in C Minor, Op.68
It was only relatively late that Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) turned to the genre of the symphony in his work, and only after a long struggle with the symphonic heritage of Beethoven. Brahms was aware, like no one else, that the symphonic idea would have to be established as an alternative to Beethovenʼs works without, however, going beyond their formal scope. Although Robert Schumann praised the young composer Brahms in his article “New Paths” (published in 1853 in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik founded by him) as a potential successor to Beethoven, it took almost another twenty years before the self-critical Brahms actually found his way to the symphonic form.