Andreas Ottensamer: My Brahms and Mendelssohn Top Five

Mendelssohn, Songs without Words; Sir András Schiff

Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words are among my absolute favourite pieces. They contain so much emotion and imagination that they really take you on a journey. But at the same time there's none of that overblown quality that can come across in later Romantic music. These pieces use the simplest means – solo piano, understandable harmonies – to go straight to the heart. And I don't find András Schiff's recording great just because he's Hungarian and I'm half-Hungarian! He plays them with incredible clarity and with flexibility and emotion in the fingers that make them a joy to listen to.

Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4; Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Chamber Orchestra of Europe

I like the fact that this recording comes from live and studio performances. You hear the sense of the concert and this special moment. The “Italian” Symphony is no easy symphony. Mendelssohn composed the symphony inspired by Italy as he travelled through it, but it doesn’t overdo the Italian pathos. You need to bring out the Italian character, and Yannick – a great person and a great friend – manages that brilliantly.

Brahms, Symphony No. 4; Carlos Kleiber, Wiener Philharmoniker

I’m usually not a fan of these "favourite questions", but if pushed, I always say that it's Brahms who's my absolute favourite composer. There's no note that's superfluous, but it's nevertheless amazingly complex: you always leave the concert both totally fulfilled but also in pieces. His melodies and modulations go straight to the heart in the moment – also perhaps for those who aren't musicians – but afterwards you usually can't even whistle the tune. This is particularly the case with the Fourth Symphony, because he writes so harmonically, with such a sense of structure – that's how it moves across such a broad spectrum. I grew up with the Wiener Philharmoniker, of course, and it's a sound I practically knew from the crib, and Kleiber brings a sense of German Romanticism, but also often something folky, lively and even up-beat.

Brahms, Violin Sonata No. 1; Yuja Wang, Leonidas Kavakos

Another great thing about Brahms is that we have so much chamber music from him, and it’s always at its more beautiful when written for musicians he knew or played with, such as Joseph Joachim. We all know the Violin Concert (written for Joachim), but he also wrote wonderful violin sonatas, and I've chosen this recording because I've recorded Brahms with Yuja myself. These smaller forms are incredibly demanding, when there's just two of you standing on the stage. I've recorded Brahms with Leonidas, too, and he plays so beautifully, always finding what's naturally there in the music, breaking it down and finding a certain openness to bring out the motifs.

Mendelssohn, Die Hebriden, Overture; Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker

There's a story with this choice that goes back to when I was 14 or 15. My brother and I had to audition for a youth orchestra. I'd only been playing the clarinet for year or so but had ended up in this "orchestra camp" somehow, thinking that I'd be put on fifth clarinet or something and it would be fine. But they did this overture, with its lovely passage for two solo clarinets, and my brother organised that I try playing it. My father sat behind us and counted for us to bring me in. But the first time I missed it. The second time I got the entry, but then came what for me then was a high note which I'd not played many times before, and I missed it completely. So, it was my first orchestral experience and I was rejected by the conductor – I've never forgiven him! But it's an incredibly beautiful piece, especially right at the start. And of course it has to be the Berliner Philharmoniker, and this lovely recording from that famous combination with Herbert von Karajan.