Romantic Brahms: Pittsburgh Symphony

The Pittsburgh Symphony performs the Third Symphony, also known as Brahms's Eroica. It is filled with conflicts and warm resolutions, turbulence, gentle sentiment and a twilight serenity. Rising cellist Maximilian Hornung makes his Pittsburgh Symphony debut performing Strauss’ famous tone poem, Don Quixote, which is inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ timeless 17th-century novel of enchantments, battles, challenges and loves. In Strauss’ score, the knight himself, Don Quixote de la Mancha, comes to life in the solo cello. In the finale, the Don is ready for death and Strauss reflects the scene in six brief, gentle measures, which convey a mood touchingly similar to that of the final passages of the Brahms Third Symphony.