Mendelssohn, Brahms & Glanert – an evening of romantic and contemporary echoes at the Sydney Opera House
The performance at the Sydney Opera House on 4 June 2025 was a triumph of Romantic expression, elegance, and orchestral command.

Sir Donald Runnicles
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of the distinguished Sir Donald Runnicles, offered an evocative and deeply satisfying program of Mendelssohn, Brahms and the contemporary German composer Detlev Glanert—anchored by a radiant performance from pianist Stephen Hough.
Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847). The Hebrides Overture (“Fingal’s Cave”) (1830)
The concert opened with Felix Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture, a tone poem inspired by the composer’s 1829 visit to the wild, rugged coastlines of the Scottish Hebrides. From the first bar, the Sydney Symphony conjured the ocean’s surging swells with an astonishing atmosphere. The low strings and the woodwinds – particularly the clarinet and oboe – painting distant tides and an austere landscape of salt air and sea spray. The brass shimmered like distant thunder.
Sir Donald Runnicles choice of speed and the dynamic range from the barely whispered pizzicati in the strings to the crashing crescendi of the full ensemble—was breathtaking.
What stood out was the transparency of texture: no section overpowered another, and yet the piece never felt underpowered. The conductor’s pacing, deliberate and unfussy, gave the overture a timeless quality, capturing the mystery, loneliness and drama of Fingal’s Cave.
Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 (1831)
Soloist: Stephen Hough

Sir Stephen Hough
Stephen Hough’s appearance as soloist in Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto was an exhilarating highlight. The concerto, written when Mendelssohn was just 21, can be played with virtuosic flair and little substance. Not here. Stephen Hough’s playing, from the fiery opening chords to the buoyant finale, brought a combination of a remarkable technique and the ability to give the music space and consideration.
His brio force in the stormy first movement, was matched with his shaping of lyrical lines that truly marked his exquisite playing. In the second movement, with its tender, nocturne-like serenity, Hough’s phrasing sang, and his interplay with the orchestra—particularly the dialogue with the strings and winds—was intimate and organic.
In the final movement, he unleashed an effervescent joy. His articulation remained crisp even in the most rapid runs, again giving space to the phrases, and there was a lightness to his touch that kept the music airborne. Sir Donald’s accompaniment was sensitive and alert, always leaving space for the soloist while subtly underscoring the architecture of the work.
Hough returned for a single encore: an exquisite performance of Chopin’s Nocturne Op 9 No 2. In it, he seemed to play a duet with himself; the left hand holding the reigns while the right ebbed and flowed in a rhapsodic way, performing the whole gamut of dynamics, from almost inaudible to fiery forte.
Detlev Glanert (1960-): Vexierbild – Kontrafakur mit Brahms (2023)
Conductor: Sir Donald Rannicles
After the interval, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed the Australian premiere of Detlev Glanert’s Vexierbild – Kontrafaktur mit Brahms. This is a contemporary meditation on Brahmsian themes seen through a 21st-century lens. The title, loosely translated as “Puzzle Image – Counterfeit with Brahms,” or as the programme says “Hidden Image: Contrafactum with Brahms” signals the work’s intention: to blur the line between homage and reimagining.
Glanert is probably one of Germany’s leading composers, already composing three works reflecting Brahms’s symphonies. This, the last, was completed in 2023 in response to Brahms’s Third. Its title refers to the mystery surrounding the symphony and the Medieval and Renaissance practice of writing out music to understand its makeup. Glanert does not quote Brahms literally but focuses on his gestures, figures and motifs.
From the outset, Glanert’s sonic landscape was brooding and full of ambiguity with solo lines emerging and retreating like half-remembered melodies. Motifs reminiscent of Brahms’s Third Symphony flickered through the texture—recognizable yet distorted. The piece gave the illusion of moving the dial on a radio station from one piece (Brahms 3) to another modern work.
Sir Donald Runnicles guided the orchestra through its dense layers and sudden shifts. The orchestra responded, embracing the work’s tension between Romantic warmth and modern dissonance. The brass and percussion sections particularly, contributed to the ominous undercurrent that ran throughout the piece.
The work’s most moving moments came in its quieter passages, where Glanert’s orchestration thinned to reveal fragments of Brahms-like lyricism suspended in stillness.
Vexierbild proved a compelling and thoughtful opener before the Brahms itself. In it, Glanert invited us to hear the familiar with fresh ears and challenging us to reconsider musical inheritance.
Brahms (1833-1897): Symphony No 3 in F major Op 90 (1883)
Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 is perhaps his most personal and least showy symphony. Sir Donald Runnicles led the orchestra with balanced Classical restraint with Romantic breadth. The famous motto theme—F-A♭-F, standing for “Frei aber froh” (“Free but happy”)—emerged with warmth in the first movement, launching a journey of emotional complexity.
In this performance the string section’s unified bowing and rich sonority gave the symphony a lush undercurrent. The winds, particularly the horn and clarinet solos, were characterful and expressive. Sir Donald emphasized the tension between lyricism and structural integrity—a Brahms hallmark—and his tempi were ideal.
The second movement, Andante, was especially touching, with its restrained melancholy and sense of yearning. The violas and cellos sang with quiet dignity, and the woodwinds answered with delicate intimacy. The Poco Allegretto, Brahms’s gentle third movement, was shaped as a chamber piece—intimate and inward.
But it was the final movement that sealed the interpretation’s greatness. The dramatic climaxes were taut but never overblown, and the return of the motto theme at the end, fading into a tranquil resolution, was profoundly moving.
The orchestra, clearly galvanized by Runnicle’s leadership, played with unity and purpose.
This was a program steeped in Romanticism, yet never sentimental or overwrought. Under Sir Donald Runnicles’s direction and with the virtuosity of Stephen Hough at the piano, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra offered a night of music that was richly textured, emotionally resonant, and artistically refined.