Event by Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra featuring Nicola Benedetti – Sheldonian Theatre
ELGAR Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47
TIPPETT Concerto for Double String Orchestra
ELGAR Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61
Nicola Benedetti – soloist violin
Marios Papadopoulos – conductor
Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert features Nicola Benedetti as a soloist with guest conductor Mario Papadopoulos. I’m still on a high after hearing a 1717 Gariel Strad live in person. It’s such an incredible instrument. My knowledge on symphonic poems is limited however it doesn’t take a genius to know when dedicated musicians have studied their repertoire inside out to give wonderful renditions of violin concerti. What a magical evening
We may never know whose soul is ‘enshrined’ in Elgar’s violin concerto according to the work’s mysterious dedication, but the music suggests it must have been someone the composer loved dearly. Nicola Benedetti returns to the Orchestra for this performance of the first truly successful violin concerto from England, a piece of which Elgar himself confessed ‘It is too emotional, but I love it’. Marios Papadopoulos and the Orchestra contextualise Elgar’s masterpiece with his elegy-tinged Introduction and Allegro and the captivating rhythmic brilliance of his successor Michael Tippett’s own Concerto for Double String Orchestra.
