Season Opening with Blomstedt

Herbert Blomstedt is Sweden's internationally most recognized conductor – ever. Among the orchestras he has worked with are the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, and notably the San Francisco Symphony, where Blomstedt was chief conductor for ten years. Blomstedt has also conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on well over 200 occasions, and on the occasion of his 90th birthday in 2017, Konserthuset named its grand conductor's dressing room after him.

As he makes another cherished visit to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, it is with two favorites, Franz Berwald and Brahms. Memories from the Norwegian mountains came to him after a visit to Norway, and Berwald described the Nordic-sounding music as orchestral tonal painting. The restlessly bustling Sinfonie capricieuse is surrounded by mystique, for shortly after Berwald's death, the score disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The music was later reconstructed by Nils Castegren based on Berwald's remaining sketches.

Johannes Brahms's first symphony is undoubtedly a masterpiece. The symphony was crafted over many years, with Brahms at times almost paralyzed by the performance demands of his idol Beethoven. However, the end result is magnificent and shaped with precision, intense emotion, and great beauty.