Concerto Budapest Presented by Liszt Academy

Born in Copenhagen, Nikolaj Znaider is guest conductor of the programme featuring two epochal, legendary creators of 19th-century music – indeed of European culture – with a decidedly romantic and virtuoso concerto in the middle. Znaider, famous around the world as a violinist yet ever more sought-after as a conductor, works together with Norwegian Henning Kraggerud, who regularly performs with the biggest names in chamber music, and Concerto Budapest in Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor (1866). The perhaps most popular composition by Bruch – who battled throughout his long life with Wagner and his influence – is preceded by the famous ‘Tristan chord’. The second part of the concert is given over to the Eroica Symphony, which is forever associated with one of the most famous Beethoven anecdotes of all time: originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, the composer ripped the dedication from the sheet music in rage on hearing, in May 1804, that the first consul had declared himself emperor, or as Beethoven put it, “tyrant”.