CAMILLE SAINT SAENS – INTRO & RONDO CAPRICIOSO
EDOUARD LALO – SINFONIA ESPAGNOLA
PYOTR ILYCH TCHAIKOVSKY – VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR (1ST MOVEMENT)
JOHANNES BRAHMS – SYMPHONY NO.1 IN C MINOR
To open the Violinissimo concert, Alexander Stejskal (Wells Cathedral School) will perform the first part of the Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso in A minor, Op 28 by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921). By the age of 6 years, Alexander had already performed in major concert halls; now in Year 11, he plays with the valuable Benoit Rolland ‘spiccato’ bow and has shared the platform with Nicola Benedetti and Nigel Kennedy. This delightful work for violin and orchestra has been much played and arranged since its 1867 premiere; although marked andante malinconico – a sorrowful stroll, maybe – it quickly gathers pace with virtuosic arpeggios and chromatic scales.
Next, Nirvana Che-Lai (Eltham College and Junior Royal College of Music) will play the allegro non troppo from the Sinfonia Espagnola in D minor, Op 21 by Édouard Lalo (1823-1892). Nirvana has studied violin since the age of 6 and performed widely as both soloist and recitalist; she was a finalist in the International Dvarionas Violin Competition in Lithuania in 2024. She plays the Georg Karl Klotz ‘Scotchmer’ violin with the Peccatte bow, both on loan. The piece by Lalo, like the Saint-Saëns, written for the virtuoso Pablo Sarasate, is now regarded as a technically demanding concerto in five movements; it’s one of his most popular and joyous works.
Finally, Rose Gosney (Yehudi Menuhin School and Royal Academy of Music) will perform the allegro moderato from the Violin Concerto in D major, Op 35 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). A BBC Young Musician quarter-finalist and concertmaster of the National Youth Orchestra in 2023-24, Rose enjoys a busy concert schedule; her repertoire extends to the Bruch and Beethoven concertos, and she plays an instrument by Gaetano Antoniazzi (c1730) (on loan from Florian Leonhard). Tchaikovsky’s great work, directly inspired by Lalo’s Spanish-themed piece, stands firm among the ‘Great Five’ concertos for violin. After a brief orchestral introduction, the violin makes a cadenza-like entrance before virtuosic scales and double/triple-stopping lead to a majestic climax.
The second half of the concert will be devoted entirely to the Symphony No 1 in C minor, Op 68 by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), perfected over very many years. Fixated by his perceived inadequacy to continue ‘Beethoven’s inheritance’ and his innate, self-critical fastidiousness, Brahms was at length satisfied with the masterwork we love today. There is much to enjoy over four movements, but significantly the finale features his first inclusion of trombones which are entrusted to deliver, in concert with the horn section, the recurring ‘Alphorn theme’. Overjoyed to have finally completed the piece, he announced to his life-long friend and fellow composer Clara Schumann: “Thus blew the shepherd’s horn today!” There can be no doubting its place in the symphonic treasury.
