Monumental power, inner struggle, and ultimate victory: Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto is among the most emotionally charged works of the early Romantic era. Equally intense, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony balances between somber introspection and exuberant triumph. Two monumental works that transform personal struggle into musical grandeur.

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Johannes Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto is a work of epic proportions – even if the composer himself jokingly described it as a “tiny little piano concerto”... Among pianists, the piece is notoriously known as ‘the long terror’, a demanding test of endurance.

A challenge tailor-made for Jonathan Fournel: it was with this very masterpiece that the French pianist brilliantly captured First Prize at the 2021 Queen Elisabeth Competition, winning the hearts of the Belgian public. With his rare blend of refined elegance and wild instinct, Fournel understands the dark pulse of Brahms like few others.

That same dark intensity fuels Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. Yet where Brahms takes up the fight, Tchaikovsky surrenders unabashedly to ‘Fate’. While writing his Fifth Symphony, the composer struggled with self-doubt: "no, no hope at all," he noted. Yet, this personal journey through raw emotion grew into one of the most performed symphonies in the Romantic repertoire, offering understanding and comfort to many a lost soul.