Classical music is often regarded as serious, sophisticated and conservative, and its performers and composers as generous-hearted souls wholly supportive of each other. The concept behind this evening’s concert blows this notion to smithereens as it parades music by composers who disliked each other’s music. 

Liszt belonged to the New German School of progressive Romantic composers. He had an aversion to Brahms whom he dismissed as boring and old school. Needless to say, Brahms wasn’t a fan of Liszt, and he supposedly fell asleep during a performance of his Piano Sonata in B minor.

Tchaikovsky labelled Brahms’ music as academic, dry and vague. Minimalists Philip Glass and Steve Reich studied at Juilliard together in 1971 and yet harboured a visceral contempt for each other for decades. 

Liszt’s La lugubre gondola for cello and piano poetically defined by pianist Olga Zado and cellist Julian Smiles opens the program. Liszt’s mournful miniature was written after he had a scary premonition of Wagner’s death. 

Brahms’ theatrical yet compact Trio in C minor for Piano, Violin and Cello is given a cohesive and convincing airing by Jack Liebeck, cellist Charlotte Miles and Zado who exploits the conversational interplay and shows how Brahms...