Tchaikovsky and Bruch with the Philharmonia Orchestra

May 30, 2019

Pablo Heras-Casado returns to England to conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra in two thrilling concerts. The performances will take place on June 1 at De Montfort Hall in Leicester, and on June 2 at the Royal Festival Hall in London. He will lead the ensemble in Mendelssohn’s Overture, The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave); Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1, featuring Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti; and will conclude with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.

Mendelssohn’s early tone poem Overture The Hebrides was inspired by one of his trips to the British Isles, specifically an 1829 excursion to the Scottish island of Staffa, with its basalt sea cave known as Fingal’s Cave. Ms. Benedetti interprets Bruch’s virtuosic First Violin Concerto: one of the most popular violin concertos in the repertoire, known for its lyrical beauty and emotional sincerity.

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony was composed while he worked intermittently on Eugene Onegin, following his catastrophic marriage to former student Antonina Miliukova. Written during a period of depression for the composer, the opening bars of the first movement are intended to represent a metaphor for fate, or as he described it: “the fatal power which prevents one from attaining the goal of happiness.”

Pablo recorded Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture with the Freiburger Barockorchester in 2017. With the Philharmonia Orchestra, he recorded Debussy’s La Mer and Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien in 2018, in honor of the centenary of the Debussy’s death, both released by harmonia mundi. Purchase links and more information the albums are available via his Recordings.