Classical music in Bristol: Philharmonia/Jarvi/Batiashvili at the Colston Hall on Wednesday, April 3

thisisbristol.co.uk
March 29, 2013

The great violinist Bronislaw Huberman described the Brahms Violin Concerto as "a contest for violin against orchestra – and the violin wins". That's an outcome never in doubt when the soloist is the formidably equipped Lisa Batiashvili.
Mind you, it's a wonder there's enough of her to go round given the number of residencies she's holding down this season – from "Capell-Virtuosin" with the venerable Dresden Staatskapelle to Artist-in-Residence with Cologne-based West German Radio Symphony Orchestra; and she's busy forging fruitful relationships with the likes of Barenboim and Dudamel.

Hot on the heels of her recent DG release of the Brahms Violin Concerto, she plays the work live in a Bristol re-match for the Philharmonia. At the helm is Grammy-winning Paavo Jarvi who frames the Brahms with Haydn's "Reine" Symphony – a Marie Antoinette favourite, hence the name – and Sibelius' seductive Symphony No. 1. Batiashvili, incidentally, plays the Strad once owned by Joseph Joachim for whom Brahms wrote his gypsy-crowned concerto, so, in a sense, the concerto's coming home.
Philharmonia / Jarvi / Batiashvili Wednesday, April 3. Colston Hall, Colston St, Bristol, 7.30pm, £15-£31/under 26s £8/under 18s £1. 0117 922 3686 www.colstonhall.org.
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Classical-music-Bristol-Philharmonia-Jarvi/story-18555401-detail/story.html#axzz2PG92v4Fg