Ligeti’s Violin Concerto with Renaud Capuçon and David Robertson

In this concert we hear Hungarian music in all its wide variety when the Berliner Philharmoniker present key composers from the country ranging from Liszt to Bartók. Our guests this evening are David Robertson and Renaud Capuçon.

Even if Franz Liszt never really mastered the Hungarian language, he was proud throughout his life to be a real Magyar, at least by birth. However, you can’t hear this in his tone poem about the bard of antiquity Orpheus, in which the composer develops his style of musical storytelling. With Béla Bartók and György Ligeti, we are joined by two composers who, before and after the Second World War respectively, shaped Hungarian music more so than any others. In the pieces to be performed at this concert – Bartók’s ballet music The Wooden Prince and Ligeti’s Violin Concerto – a central source of inspiration for Hungarian culture also manifests itself: folk music.

Our soloist this evening is Renaud Capuçon, one of today’s most promising young violinists and a former student of Isaac Stern, whose instrument he now plays – a 1721 Guarneri. David Robertson is the conductor, music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra since 2005, and principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony.

Berliner Philharmoniker

David Robertson

Renaud Capuçon