Swiss conductor Stefan Blunier conducts a symphonic programme dedicated to some of the most important names in the transition from late German Romanticism to a new era. The concert begins with Brahms’ Overture to an Academic Festival, composed as a gesture of gratitude to the University of Breslau, which had awarded him an honorary doctorate – a humorous tribute, quoting Bohemian songs sung by university students. This is followed by Alban Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra, an example of how expressionist aesthetics translated the latent tension on the eve of the First World War. Finally, Richard Strauss’ symphonic poem Also sprach Zarathustra illustrates the key moments in the philosophical journey of the protagonist of Nietzsche’s work.