Oslo Philharmonic / Batiashvili / Mäkelä

»Music is not an illusion, it is a revelation. And therein lies its victorious power, that it reveals a beauty that is inaccessible to us in any other sphere and reconciles us with life«, wrote Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. A year later, in 1887, he composed his only violin concerto within a few weeks on Lake Geneva.

Lisa Batiashvili plays Tchaikovsky's violin concerto
This important composition was once considered unplayable –, but today it is one of the most frequently performed works for violin and orchestra in the world. Extremely fast runs, double stops, complex chordal figures and lyrical cantilenas demand a high level of technical skill. The Viennese audience is sure to be in for a revelation when Lisa Batiashvili takes on the role of solo violin: Together with the Oslo Philharmonic, she interprets Tchaikovsky's masterpiece, conducted by Klaus Mäkelä.

Klaus Mäkelä conducts Shostakovich's Eighth
The top Norwegian orchestra and the star conductor also dedicate themselves to Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8. The middle of his three »war symphonies« was written in 1943: a darkly tragic work that touches with radical, emotional depth.