Three master composers come together for a program that's spine-tingling, dramatic and spectacular. Lisa Batiashvili returns to play the Brahms Violin Concerto.
If you've seem Stanley Kubrick's astonishing 2001 - A Space Odyssey, then you'll know he lifted the soundtrack from some of the greatest composers of all time. And that includes the awesome musical sunrise from Thus Spake Zarathustra.
This is your chance to hear the whole thing, as the music blossoms into something colourful, mysterious and spine-tingling, until it reaches what Vladimir Ashkenazy calls "an incredible ending".
Beethoven brings an overture from the theatre, infused with imperious pride and tragic indecision. And Brahms's Violin Concerto is the jewel in the crown, played by Georgian-born violinist Lisa Batiashvili. It's serious music and seriously difficult to play, but you can't help but enjoy its sweet melodies and exhilarating gypsy finale.
BEETHOVEN Coriolan Overture
BRAHMS Violin Concerto
R STRAUSS Thus Spake Zarathustra
Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor
Lisa Batiashvili violin
Pre-concert talk by Gordon Kalton Williams at 7.15pm in the Northern Foyer.
AUDIO PLAYER LISTING
Track 1 - BEETHOVEN Coriolan Overture
Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON ELOQUENCE 445 112-2
Track 2 - BRAHMS Violin Concerto: II Adagio
Track 3 - BRAHMS Violin Concerto: III Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace
Joshua Bell (violin) with the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi
DECCA 4756703
Track 4 - R STRAUSS - Thus spake Zarathustra: Introduction
New York Philharmonic conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON ELOQUENCE 480 0411
Audio kindly supplied by Silver Partner Universal Music.