Elgar and Schumann

The London Philharmonic Orchestra and their Principal Conductor Edward Gardner are joined by internationally renowned violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann for a concert recorded earlier this month at the Royal Festival Hall.

Ever since its 1910 premiere with Fritz Kreisler, Elgar's Violin Concerto has become established in the international repertoire, championed by many of the world's leading players. Fond of the enigmatic, Elgar headed the score with a deliberately teasing quote in Spanish: ‘Aqui está encerrada el alma de . . . . .’ (Herein is enshrined the soul of . . . . .’) where the five dots stand for a woman's name. Conceived on a grand scale, the concerto is by turns rhapsodic and intimate, majestic and assertive, often featuring that favourite Elgarian marking 'nobilmente'.

Schumann wrote his Second Symphony at the tail end of a deep and deeply unproductive depression. Hope, obsessive repetition and restless energy characterise the music before the lyrical melancholy and desolation of the slow movement and the symphony's final triumphant affirmation.

Presented by Georgia Mann.

Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op 61
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61

Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin)
London Philharmonic orchestra
Edward Gardner (conductor)