Fischer Julia © Uwe Arens
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Julia Fischer / Vasily Petrenko
Thursday
30
January
2025
19:30 – ca. 21:30
Großer Saal
Presented by
Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft
Mysterious tones
Tchaikovsky wrote only one violin concerto. At its premiere in Vienna in 1881, it received mixed reviews. The notorious music critic Eduard Hanslick had nothing but scorn for it. It undoubtedly places the highest demands on the soloists; the original dedicatee, the famous Russian violinist Leopold Auer, even considered it unplayable. It also requires great sensitivity, especially in the second movement, a canzonetta about which Tchaikovsky's pen friend and patron Nadezhda von Meck wrote: »How much poetry and what longing in these Sons voilés, the mysterious tones.« One critic described Julia Fischer's interpretation of the work as »simply stunning«, »soulful and romantic without becoming sentimental«. At the Wiener Konzerthaus, she takes on the challenging work together with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under its chief conductor Vasily Petrenko. Mussorgki's colorful, orgiastic symphonic poem »A Night on a Bare Mountain« precedes the concert. The second half of the concert features Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra, a life-affirming, vigorous piece, although it was written in the last years of the composer's life.