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Two glorious feasts of melody encase an exquisite work by 20th-century Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, in this programme of contrasts and contradictions.
Mendelssohn Overture ‘The Hebrides’
Grażyna Bacewicz Contradizione
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Peter Manning conductor
Maren Bosma violin
To begin the concert, imagine yourself transported to the Hebridian coast where the glistening, pristine beauty of the landscape contrasts with the awesome power and drama of the Atlantic waves in Mendelssohn’s timelessly elegant portrait of Scotland’s rugged beauty.
A loner in Beethoven’s extraordinarily prolific output, the Violin Concerto was nearly consigned to obscurity until Mendelssohn and a 12 year-old violin prodigy revived it at a concert in London in 1844. And, we should be very glad they did because its lush, Romantic melodies and sumptuous harmonies make for fifty minutes of pure, indulgent enjoyment.
As Beethoven famously left the concerto cadenza-less, tonight’s comes from Alfred Schnittke, whose ‘name-that-tune’ cadenza contains quotes from violin concerti by Brahms, Berg and Shostakovich. See if you can spot them all!
Grażyna Bacewicz’s Contradizione I & II are playful, shimmering percussion showcases featuring weird and wonderful contrasts and contradictions of both instruments and playing techniques that will keep your ears on their toes.
