MÁV Symphony Orchestra Presented by Liszt Academy

Sir Yehudi Menuhin wrote of the soloist: “He is without doubt one of the most brilliant and musical of violinists […] Alexander Markov will certainly leave his mark on the music lovers of the world and in the annals of the violin virtuosi of our day.” Exactly ten years ago, the Russian-born American violinist first played with MÁV Symphony Orchestra as soloist in the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. Tchaikovsky wrote the Manfred Symphony in 1885, between symphonies numbers 4 and 5. The literary core of the work comes from Byron’s dramatic supernatural poem in which the hero is a contradictory figure: fighting for freedom while his soul is oppressed by the knowledge of his own sins and melancholy. It is Tchaikovsky’s only programmatic symphonic poem that has several movements; however, it cannot be listed amongst his symphonies. The action takes place in the Alps: Tchaikovsky had recently visited the area and its inspirational majesty was still fresh in his mind. Tchaikovsky considered Manfred to be one of his most successful works, yet later he wanted to destroy the score. Happily for posterity, he didn’t carry out this threat.