Birmingham’s Symphony Hall is a true gem, the perfect concert venue and the perfect backdrop for the CBSO’s outstanding performances of Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No 1, conducted by the brilliant Stanislav Kochanovsky. These two masterpieces are united by their high ranking in the world of classical music, but so different both in style and in the way in which contemporary audiences greeted them.

At the première of Brahms’ Violin Concerto in Vienna in 1879, a critic proclaimed it to be ‘the most significant violin concerto to appear since Beethoven’s and Mendelsson’s’, and from its first performance, this piece claimed its place among the greatest of its kind. Its creation was not without difficulties, though. It is recorded that Brahms struggled greatly with elements of its composition and relied on the support of his friend and violinist Joseph Joachim - who was to be the first to perform this concerto - to complete it.

Brahms persevered, however, and this wonderful interpretation by the CBSO only served to confirm its standing as among the most beautiful of pieces composed for violin. The soloist, Ning Feng, has been praised for his lyricism, innate musicality and stunning virtuosity, all of which were in evidence as he performed with a level of intensity and emotion which was a delight to witness.

While Brahms’ Violin Concerto was lauded from the outset, Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No 1 met a very different reception. Allegedly under-rehearsed, its première in St Petersburg in 1897 was a disaster for the composer. Rachmaninoff believed that he had ‘opened new paths’, but fellow musicians and critics disagreed. Rimsky-Korsakov remarked that he did not ‘find this music at all agreeable’ and appraisals at the time commented on the Symphony’s ‘broken rhythms, obscurity and vagueness of form, sickly perverse harmonisation and quasi-melodic outlines’.

Rachmaninoff, then in his early 20s, lost confidence in his ability and suffered a psychological breakdown. He turned his back on music for three years and returned to composing only after a period of intense psychotherapy.

Nowadays, however, this Symphony is met with a very different reaction. Maybe critics do not always get it right, or maybe tastes have changed - more than 125 years have passed since its first performance, after all. Whatever the reason for this change of heart, this is a wonderful, majestic piece of music, full of light, shade and dramatic flourishes.

There can be few better ways to spend an afternoon than at Symphony Hall in the company of an orchestra of the calibre of the CBSO and an internationally renowned violinist. The allure of a live musical performance cannot be underestimated - it is a truly magical experience.

Five stars

CBSO’s Brahms and Rachmaninoff concert was reviewed by Rachel Smith on Wednesday 29 April at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall