City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

After their autumn escapade in the Czech Republic with The Cunning Little Vixen (24 November 2021), the Birmingham musicians and their musical director Mirga Grazinyté-Tyla are are now devoting themselves to the Russian repertoire. Stravinsky's only violin concerto dates from 1931 and thus from his so-called neo-classical period. However, it should not be reduced to a simple pastiche, as it requires sharpness and brilliance, which the young Moldavian violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja does not lack. She knows from the outset how to find this mixture of acid irony and pure virtuosity, as can be heard in her very fine recording of this piece with Jurowski and the London Philharmonic. Framing this major piece of the twentieth-century concerto repertoire is Tchaikovsky, with the ballet suite Romeo and Juliet and the first of his last three symphonies, a trilogy entirely devoted to the exploration of man in the face of his destiny and which the musician would push to its paroxysm with the ultimate moving work.

PRODUCTION Théâtre des Champs-Elysées