5. Philharmonisches Konzert - Pianistischer Orchesterzauber

Pianistic orchestral magic: Brahms & Pejačević

Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra
Benjamin Reiners Conductor
Gerhard Oppitz Piano

Dora Pejačević
Symphony in F sharp minor
Johannes Brahms
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor op. 15

Duisburg audiences will probably still have fond memories of Benjamin Reiners: In March 2025, he conducted a special concert from the "Philharmonic Debate" series, in which composers from the past enter into a creative exchange with their works - a debate with musical means, so to speak. The Romantic composer Brahms kicks off this program. Although he was initially unable to convince his contemporaries with his monumental symphonic Piano Concerto No. 1, the work later established itself and became a lasting success. The concerto is in the best hands as a pianist with Gerhard Oppitz, who is regarded as one of the leading Brahms interpreters.

In the case of Dora Pejačević, it was exactly the opposite: born two years before Brahms' death, the daughter of a Croatian count and a Hungarian baroness was not only an accomplished pianist, but also a very successful composer, as far as that was possible for a woman at the beginning of the 20th century. But her success was short-lived: like so many other successful women, she was quickly forgotten by posterity. Even when two movements from her recently completed symphony were performed at the Vienna Musikverein in 1918, the program deliberately concealed the name of its creator - to hide the fact that this symphony had been composed by a woman. So it was time to make up for this historical omission.