Joshua Bell plays Brahms

Programme

Joshua Bell is one of the world’s finest violinists. He joins the Orchestra and brilliant young conductor Lahav Shani, to perform a pinnacle of the violin repertoire.

The first movement of Brahms’s Violin Concerto brims with melodies of such spontaneity and freshness that they almost feel improvised. The second opens with a gorgeously serene theme, played by the oboe and then taken up by the violin. And the third has a fiery Hungarian flavour, demanding the perfect balance of precision and freedom, energy and expressiveness from the soloist.

Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 is an equally thrilling musical experience. Written when Bruckner was 50, it was his first major success as an orchestral composer, and has been a gateway to his music for many listeners since. It opens with a magical evocation of daybreak, announced by a lone horn, and paints a succession of scenes from the Austrian countryside Bruckner loved – a hunt, moments of prayer and song, and afternoon in the forest.