Igor Stravinsky Violin Concerto
Frank Peter Zimmermann is the soloist in a violin concerto inspired by the Baroque. Ryan Bancroft conducts.
About the video
- Filmed 2 February 2023.
- The video is approximately 23 minutes.
When Igor Stravinsky was asked to write a violin concerto, he was hesitant at first – he was not a string player himself. But his fellow composer Paul Hindemith suggested that this might actually be an advantage. Stravinsky could approach the violin without preconceived ideas about how a solo concerto should be written.
The result was a highly individual work, far removed from the tradition of the Romantic violin concerto. Instead, Stravinsky looked to Bach and the Baroque for inspiration, as is evident from the movement titles alone: Toccata, two Arias and Capriccio. Clear lines and counterpoint are combined with Stravinsky’s characteristic rhythms and sharply etched sonorities.
The soloist is not pitted against the orchestra in the traditional sense. Instead, the violin becomes part of a fluid, chamber-music texture, and there is no solo cadenza. The concerto was written for the violinist Samuel Dushkin and premiered in Berlin in 1931, with Stravinsky himself conducting.
-
The music
-
Igor Stravinsky Violin Concerto
-
Participants
-
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
-
Ryan Bancroft conductor
-
Frank Peter Zimmerman violin
