大象传媒

Ilan Volkov conducts CPE Bach and Bruckner, and is joined by Carolin Widmann in Stravinsky's spiky violin concerto

The theme of Bruckner's 7th Symphony came to him in a dream, while the theme of Stravinsky's Violin Concerto came to him at dinner - we don't know where CPE Bach thought up his Symphony in Eb, but his music, which opens this concert, was pivotal in the development of the classical forms that Stravinsky would later draw on in his so-called 'Neoclassical' works. Nevertheless, it is the music of his father JS Bach which is most resonant in Stravinsky's 1931 Violin Concerto: a work almost entirely derived from a single chord, scribbled on a napkin. The 大象传媒 SSO, and conductor Ilan Volkov, are joined by the sparky virtuoso Carolin Widmann to play it.

In contrast to the concision of these two composers' music stands Bruckner's 7th Symphony. It is massively more expansive in length but still owes a great deal to CPE Bach's 18th century formal innovations. Written in the 1880s it won international recognition for its composer.

The folk hero Kullervo was the inspiration behind one of Jean Sibelius' earliest masterpieces, a powerful national statement for a country struggling to overthrow Russian rule. This massive musical hybrid - part cantata, part symphony, part suite - is a vivid and thrilling work, richly melodic but looking ahead to modernism.

Presented by Hannah French

2.00pm
CPE Bach: Symphony in E flat
Stravinsky: Violin Concerto
Bruckner: Symphony no.7
Carolin Widmann (violin)
大象传媒 Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov (conductor)

3.40pm
Sibelius: Kullervo
Benjamin Appl (baritone)
Lund Male Choir
大象传媒 Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Dausgaard (conductor)