Rouvali, Benedetti / Sibelius, Bruch by Bruch, Sibelius, De (2019/2019), Director Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Wiener Konzerthaus, Viena, Austria

It is a masterpiece of the repertoire and one of the most popular solo concertos altogether: Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor. The Wiener Symphoniker alone, for instance, have performed it more than 130 times. Bruch himself did not really like this popularity, one of the consequences being that all his other works were neglected. “I can no longer stand this concerto – did I perhaps write this one concerto only? Please go and take the trouble to play the other concertos, too, for they are equally good or even better!”, he wrote to his publisher in 1887. Now, it will be interpreted by the Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti, who will thus celebrate her debut with the Wiener Symphoniker. The concerts will also represent the first collaboration of the conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali with the Wiener Symphoniker. He will combine the concerto with two works from his Finnish homeland: Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1 and Finlandia, the secret national anthem of his home country.