Rimsky-Korsakov & Benjamin Beilman plays Stravinsky

Associate conductor Michael Schønwandt begins this concert with highlights from the ballet Callirhoë by French pianist and composer Cécile Chaminade. This work, which tells the story of  the naiad Callirhoë - daughter of the river god Acheloüs – was premiered in 1888 in Marseille and was quickly performed many times thereafter (no fewer than 200 times)..

Stravinsky's Violin Concerto in D major does not draw inspiration from the great works of the repertoire, such as the violin concertos of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. The titles of the four movements – Toccata, Aria I, Aria II and Capriccio – allude to Bach, as does the music. "My favorite solo concerto by Bach is his concerto for two violins," said Stravinsky. The last movement of the Russian's violin concerto is a perfect illustration of this: the solo violin engages in a dialogue with a violin from the orchestra in a duet. Stravinsky's Violin Concerto includes other duets, and the musical texture is more akin to chamber music than orchestral music. The composer composed this resolutely neoclassical concerto in 1931 for the young American-Polish violinist Samuel Dushkin. Today, this violin concerto is one of Stravinsky's most beloved works.

Scheherazade is undoubtedly the most famous work of Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He composed this symphonic suite in four parts during the summer of 1888, drawing inspiration from the tales of the One Thousand and One Nights. The solo violin represents Scheherazade, the young Persian woman who manages to delay her execution by telling captivating stories. In this symphonic suite, Rimsky-Korsakov does not really tell a story but rather evokes, with a rich instrumental palette, an orientalist fairy tale that speaks to the imagination.

Created with the support of the Belgian Tax Shelter through Casa Kafka Pictures.