At the end of this season the Oregon Symphony will welcome Finnish violinist Elina Vähälä (above) to play Benjamin Britten’s great Violin Concerto. I’ve really fallen in love with this concerto, in no small part due to the web broadcast of the Berlin Philharmonic with violinist Janine Jansen.
Here’s a four minute sample of that broadcast:
7 replies on “a forgotten violin concerto”
Wow! We’ll be watching the full performance tomorrow night on youtube and the OSO later this year. By the way, tonight was outstanding. Our seatmates left their seats and they never do that. Bravo…
Wow is right! I love how Janine Jensen totally embodies the music and isn’t too worried about looking crazy! What an amazing performance of a stunning piece.
Great to see Benji get more props.
I just picked up the Naxos recording of his “Violin Concerto.” The other work on the disc is the “Cello Symphony” – a stronger work , IMO.
As in the case of Brahms, Britten got a tremendous jolt and inspiration from a great soloist later on in his life. For Brahms it was clarinetist, Richard Muhfield. For BB it was uber-cellisto, Rostropovich.
After Bach’s cello suites, Britten’s 3 solo cello suites are as good as they get.
D-Bob sez, check ’em out.
PS
Similarly to Wagner, some might have to “tune-out” the less savory aspects of Britten’s biographical details when listening to his glorious music.
I am a great admirer of Britten as a composer and he ranks high on my list of favorites. I second the comments about the solo cello suites and would be hard pressed to think of a better 20th century composer of opera–I especially admire Death in Venice. Thanks to the Oregon Symphony for programming the violin concerto, which is a fantastic piece. Too often radio stations and orchestras only play the two or three popular pieces by Britten and never venture into less familiar territory. Now if the symphony could only program the serenade for tenor horn and strings.
Thanks Charles. This is a real treat (and one I never knew about before). I am looking forward to hearing the whole piece.
I second Curt’s motion about the Britten Serenade! Love that piece…
I also loved Elina’s Four Seasons in her first appearance with us. Can’t wait for the Britten.
While waiting for a perf. of BB’s Serenade, perhaps someone might care to mount his gorgeous “Canticle III: Still falls the rain” for tenor, horn and piano?
I heard it once many years ago and am still haunted by its exquisite refrain.