The Master and the Virtuoso

The many faces of Romanticism — the personal, the virtuosic, and the monumental — come together in this concert, which opens with conductor Christoph Campestrini’s own symphonic poem, a work of deeply personal voice and Romantic fervor.

A true sensation on the program is Jan Kubelík’s Violin Concerto in C major. The work of the legendary Czech violin virtuoso of the last century had long been considered lost, until Pavel Šporcl — known for his extravagant style and distinctive blue violin — made the first recording of it. This demanding late-Romantic concerto has become one of the major rediscoveries of recent years.

By contrast, Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 is a familiar and beloved masterpiece, in which classical form provides space for the profound emotional depth of Romantic expression, and which is widely regarded as the pinnacle of the composer’s oeuvre.

Photo: Christoph Campestrini © Werner Kmetitsch