BRAHMS'S FOURTH SYMPHONY. Augustin Hadelich and Ludovic Morlot

The concert opens with a premiere by Catalan composer Oriol Saladrigues. Artistic director of Barcelona’s Mixtur Festival, Saladrigues specialises in new technologies applied to creative work. 

The programme also features Augustin Hadelich as soloist in Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a work written on the eve of the outbreak of World War II. The piece was premiered in New York by Catalan violinist Antoni Brosa, who was active on the British scene, collaborating regularly with the composer as well as being a close friend.

Johannes Brahms’ Fourth Symphony occupies the second part of the programme. This final symphony by the man recognised as Germany’s greatest composer is enormously profound, with incomparable technical refinement and musicality. In common with Britten’s work, it looks to the past, using compositional techniques typical of the Baroque in its spectacular last movements.