Valeriy Sokolov plays Tchaikovsky

Programme

Claude Debussy Feux d'artifice from Preludes
Claude Debussy Feuilles mortes from Preludes
Claude Debussy Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest from Preludes
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Sofia Gubaidoelina Der Zorn Gottes (Dutch premiere)
Claude Debussy La mer

After Colin Matthews' orchestrated version of some of Debussy's piano preludes, Valeriy Sokolov* performs Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. In this work, the violin was, according to one critic, 'flogged, demolished and beaten black and blue'. Tchaikovsky could quote the entire review from memory for the rest of his life. Then comes a long-awaited Dutch premiere, namely Der Zorn Gottes by the Russian composer Sofia Gubaidoelina (1931), who is especially praised in the West. It is a turbulent instrumental work, originally intended as the finale to her 2016 oratorio Über Liebe und Hass. The year 2020 gave her the time to develop it as an independent composition. The final piece is La mer by Debussy, an impressive 'portrait' of water and its appearances. Quiet and rippling, but also wild and whirling. Admirers once called it 'the best French symphony ever composed'.

* The violinist Pekka Kuusisto, who was originally announced for this concert, has been cancelled for personal reasons. He will be replaced by the Ukrainian violinist Valeriy Sokolov, winner of the George Enescu International Violin Competition in Bucharest.