Music of the Romantic era with Sebastian Weigle and Himari

The date of composition and numbering of Franz Schubert’s last symphony were long disputed. Today, it is considered likely that it was composed in response to the impression left on Schubert by the premiere of Beethoven’s Ninth. Nevertheless, in his “Great” C major Symphony, which Robert Schumann compared to a “thick novel in four volumes”, the composer followed his own path: it has an epic rather than dramatic character and anticipates Bruckner and Mahler. Schumann discovered the score in 1839 when he visited Schubert’s brother Ferdinand in Vienna. The work was premiered by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and conductor Felix Mendelssohn in the same year.

The same orchestra that premiered Henryk Wieniawski’s First Violin Concerto in 1853, with the composer himself as the soloist. Wieniawski was hailed as one of the most brilliant violinists of his time from Russia to Central Europe and the USA. It is not only the sheer difficulty he came up with for this work that is astonishing – rapid runs, double stops in some of the most uncomfortable positions and every conceivable bowing technique – but also the musical maturity of the composer, who was only 17 years old. The Japanese violinist Himari is four years younger still, and after concerts with Asian and North American orchestras, this is her first appearance with a major European orchestra. The highly talented violinist performs Wieniawski’s concerto with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Sebastian Weigle.

Berliner Philharmoniker

Sebastian Weigle

Himari