There is something magical about this musical metamorphosis: the scherzo recedes into sombre twilight, everything is engulfed in black pianissimo depths. But contours slowly begin to emerge, solemn calls of the brass resound, excitement builds in the orchestra - and with a festive march in D major, the finale bursts forth. We have finally emerged from the nocturnal, gothic Romanticism in D minor into the bright light of day. Written in his happiest period as a newly married man, Robert Schumann had a new, particular kind of symphony in mind, to 'consist of one movement', a decidedly romantic alternative to his first, classicist 'Spring Symphony'. Only because of reworking and delayed publication was his second-written symphony published as his Fourth. The work's gripping drama, ending in jubilation, is preceded by the dreamlike lyricism of two concert works for solo cello, performed by audience favourite Nicolas Altstaedt, who conducts the Haydn Philharmonie from his instrument: Respighi's Variations and Dvořák's 'Waldesruhe'.

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