Johannes Brahms spent nearly 20 years in a soul-searching struggle to compose his First Symphony. With that behind him, the great German Romantic composer created his sunny and serene Symphony No. 2 while on a summer vacation. Antonin Dvořak was living in New York City when he composed his Cello Concerto. Widely regarded as the most beautiful ever written for the instrument, it features the brilliant cellist Johannes Moser, a laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, as soloist. Opening the program is a work by Amanda Harberg, an American composer acclaimed for her beautiful music.
