Orchester der Angelika Prokopp Sommerakademie der Wiener Philharmoniker

Classical / Orchestra Concert

Orchestra of the Angelika Prokopp Summer Academy of the Vienna Philharmonic
Yamen Saadi – Violin
Yoel Gamzou – Conductor

Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
Metamorphosen for 23 Solo Strings

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in D Minor

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957)
Symphonic Serenade in B Major, op. 39 (Excerpts)

Richard Strauss' "Metamorphosen" for 23 solo strings belongs to his late work. Written in the last years of the war, it is an elegy on the destruction of culture and civilization, a funeral music for the destroyed Dresden and the German cities that perished in the bombing. Based on the original meaning of the word "metamorphosis" (= transformation), the strings weave an almost endless sound carpet of variations on the melodic material of the funeral march from Beethoven's "Eroica."

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy composed his "Violin Concerto in D Minor" in 1822, at the age of just 13. The early work, long overshadowed by his later E Minor concerto, already showcases his extraordinary talent for lyrical melodies and dramatic contrasts. The three-movement concerto – passionate in the Allegro, lyrical in the Andante, and lively in the Finale – unites baroque influences from Johann Sebastian Bach with Mendelssohn's youthful freshness.

The conclusion features excerpts from Erich Wolfgang Korngold's "Symphonic Serenade," in which classical and popular music merge. Korngold, a master of late romantic sound language, takes us with his serenade into a sumptuous world of sound that often recalls film music, with a winking pizzicato section. The soloist is the new concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic, Yamen Saadi.