Munich Philharmonic: Berg / BrucknerAndris Nelsons (conductor), Baiba Skride (violin)
The sound of grief can take many forms: fragile and full of emphatic warmth, as in Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto; or rousing and majestic, as in Anton Bruckner’s seventh symphony.
The sound of grief can take many forms: fragile and full of emphatic warmth, as in Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto; or rousing and majestic, as in Anton Bruckner’s seventh symphony.
- Baiba Skride, violin
- Munich Philharmonic
- Andris Nelsons, conductor
Berg wrote his only violin concerto following the death of Alma Mahler’s daughter, Manon Gropius, aged 18 years. The fact that a composition written entirely in the twelve-tone technique can sound this “romantic” also fascinates the Latvian violinist Baiba Skride. She takes the solo part for Berg’s concerto, which the composer dedicated “To the Memory of an Angel”.
It was Richard Wagner’s death that shaped Bruckner’s Seventh: The passing of Bruckner’s great role model prompted him to reinterpret the symphony’s Adagio as a “requiem” for Wagner and to fashion it as a poignant lament.
Andris Nelsons is a Bruckner specialist among the younger generation of conductors.
Programme
- Alban Berg: Violin Concerto “To the memory of an angel”
- Anton Bruckner: Symphony No 7 in E major WAB 107
