Brahms 4 & Steven Isserlis at Arts Centre Melbourne Hamer Hall

The Fourth is Brahms' final powerful symphonic statement. Here, Brahms takes flight, as he melds the soaring sounds of Romanticism to classical structure in a constantly evolving drama.

Brahms premiered the symphony with a small orchestra of forty-eight musicians, which he declined to augment. The Australian Chamber Orchestra follows his lead and performs with wind instruments from Brahms' time.

Steven Isserlis is one of the ACO’s favourite collaborators – the epitome of the intelligent and passionate cellist. There could be no better soloist for Dvo?ák's ardent and much-loved concerto. Isserlis first played it as a child. "I used to think it was so joyous," he says. "As I've got older, the more tragic it seems."