NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Frank Peter Zimmermann / Alan Gilbert

Dream team with a track record

This is a line-up where the chemistry is just perfect: when chief conductor Alan Gilbert and his NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra appear together with the exceptional violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, one is not only reminded of their many previous concerts and recordings. As in any successful long-standing relationship, the partners trust one another implicitly. These are certainly favourable conditions for a performance of Stravinsky’s virtuoso and slightly ironic Violin Concerto – a work from the composer’s Neo-Classical phase for which the ground is laid by Mozart’s »little« G minor Symphony in the programme. Stravinsky unmistakeably follows on inter alia from the form of the Baroque concerto grosso, which means that several instruments on the concert platform are called on to display soloist qualities and accuracy in the stylistic masquera – first and foremost of course the violin: the composer himself wanted the piece to »stink« of the violin.