Elgar’s Falstaff
Wednesday, 30th September, 2009Wednesday 30 September 2009 at 7.30PM
Oliver Knussen conductor
Leila Josefowicz violin
Britten: Canadian Carnival 14′
Matthews: Violin Concerto (Feeney Trust commission: world premiere) 24′
Elgar: Falstaff 36′
Larger than life, both philosopher and philanderer, Falstaff is one of Shakespeare’s most lovable rogues, and Elgar’s affectionate portrait also tells us a great deal about the composer’s own private world in music of great character and good-humour. Britten’s 1939 Canadian Carnival is an equally swaggering celebration of a more out-of-doors kind, and provides an ideal welcome for the return to Birmingham of the Canadian-born virtuoso Leila Josefowicz. She gives the world premiere of a new concerto written specially for her by the leading British composer Colin Matthews. www.cbso.co.uk
Review from Christopher Morley, Birmingham Post at:-
“For more than half a century, Feeney Trust commissions for the CBSO have been events to savour in anticipation, and the latest among these, Colin Matthews’ Violin Concerto, is no exception.”
Review by Dominic Nudd, ClassicalSource.com:-
http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=7480#
“This is a gorgeous new concerto, Leila Josefowicz delivering an impassioned performance, closely supported by deeply engaged playing from the CBSO under Oliver Knussen.”
Review from Andrew Clements, Guardian:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/oct/01/cbso-knussen-colin-matthews-review
“Colin Matthews’s new violin concerto, commissioned by the Feeney Trust for Leila Josefowicz to play with the City of Birmingham Symphony conducted by Oliver Knussen, is a strikingly original work, which never does quite what you expect of a violin concerto.”
Review from Hilary Finch, Times:-
“Colin Matthews’s Violin Concerto failed to stir the blood, and only in Elgar’s Falstaff did the orchestra hit full strength”
