In January 2017, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Herbert Blomstedt paired a farewell work with a symphonic debut: Béla Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto – one of his last compositions – followed by Johannes Brahms’s First Symphony. The evening’s soloist was the Hungarian pianist András Schiff. In one of his entertaining introductions, well known to Digital Concert Hall audiences, Blomstedt talks about Bartók’s difficult years in exile in America, and the complicated genesis of Brahms’s symphonic debut. Among other things, he demonstrates why the composer should be admired not only for his melodic invention, but also for the ingenious dramaturgy of his works.