Stravinsky | Mendelssohn | Tchaikovsky at The Bridgewater Hall
Will Fulford-Jones
Stravinsky – Funeral Song (11’)
Mendelssohn – Violin Concerto in E minor (27’)
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 5 (44’)
In 1913, Igor Stravinsky ushered in the age of modern music with the Paris premiere of The Rite of Spring, a piece that’s at the root of his reputation as arguably the most important composer of the 20th century. Many of his works are performed often today, with one notable exception: Funeral Song, written several years earlier as a tribute to Russian composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky’s teacher. The score of the piece went missing immediately after its 1909 premiere and was assumed lost until just three years ago, when it unexpectedly turned up in a St Petersburg archive. This evening, the work will be performed in Manchester for the first time. Conducted by Ben Gernon, the other pieces on the programme are rather more familiar, but neither Mendelssohn’s E minor Violin Concerto (here featuring Carolin Widmann as soloist) or Tchaikovsky’s dramatic Fifth Symphony have worn out their welcomes with audiences worldwide.
Carolin Widmann – violin
Ben Gernon – conductor
