Repin performs Bruch's Violin Concerto

Kazuki Yamada (conductor)
Vadim Repin (violin)

LISZT Les Preludes, Symphonic Poem No. 3
BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1
BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique

‘Between 1864 and 1868 I rewrote my Violin Concerto at least half a dozen times,’ despaired Max Bruch, although the glorious work, played tonight by Vadim Repin, that emerged became a runaway bestseller. The only problem was he’d accepted a one-off payment and lost out on a fortune in royalties! If Bruch stood on the traditional Romantic wing, Liszt and Berlioz spearheaded a ‘New Music’ movement that sought to open up new and exciting realms of expression. Les Préludes became the most popular in a remarkable series of orchestral dramas Liszt described as ‘symphonic poems’, while in his Symphonie fantastique Berlioz threw the rule-book out the window with a series of drug-crazed imaginings.