Pannon Philharmonic

Conductor

Olari Elts

Soloist

Kristóf Baráti

violin

Kristóf Baráti was born in 1979 in Budapest, from a family of musicians; his first violin teacher was his mother. 1981-1991 he lived, with his parents, in Venezuela; he gave his first concert with orchestra at the age of eight,… More

About the Programme


Program:

• 
Brahms: Tragic Overture
• 
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No.1
• 
Brahms: Symphony No.1 in C minor

A great many music fans were waiting for a symphony by the young Johannes Brahms. The composer felt half paralyzed by the great ancestor, Beethoven's legacy. After waiting 22 years, finally, sounded up the Symphony No.1 in C minor (Op. 68),  evaluated by every expectant as a masterpiece. In one of the themes of the finale, one could recognise the melody of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy (the author's comment: "Every asses can see that all!").

In the early 1880s, Brahms, like putting on theatre masks, created two pieces: “one is crying, the other one is laughing” – as he described them. The Tragic Overture became the Academic Festival Overture’s melancholic pair; contradicting to its title, it is not followed by any other programme and does not have any content beside music.

Dmitri Shostakovich dedicated his Violin Concerto No.1 (in A minor, Op 99) to David Oistrack. The concerto’s opening Nocturne is followed by a demonic Scherzo.  The slow movement, which ends in one of the longest cadence of the repertoire, is homage to the Baroque era’s Passacaglia. The 4th movement is a whirlwind-like Burlesque. The piece tries the soloist’s technical skills and stamina to the end. Oistrack called the violin solo a Shakespearean role.