Concerto Budapest

Tchaikovsky was a sensitive Romantic genius and at the same time a disciplined composer of applied music. The concert programme, in which one of the most popular pieces of the 19th century concerto repertoire is positioned alongside excerpts from the Russian’s ballet music, delineates this well-known yet still somewhat surprising artistic duality. Soloist of the Violin Concerto in D major (1878) is German artist Antje Weithaas, blessed with technical mastery and exceptional musical intelligence coupled with a high degree of modesty, who in 2017 performed the Beethoven violin concerto with András Keller and Concerto Budapest at a hugely memorable concert in the Liszt Academy. Before and after the concerto, the audience hears movements of ballet music – composed according to categorical expectations, pre-defined rhythms and characters – from the oeuvre of Tchaikovsky who, although being involved in just three ballets, created perfection on all three occasions. And in the run-up to Christmas, what better way to close the programme than with a Nutcracker compilation, for many the essence of the season?