Sibelius' Violin Concerto and the Scream of Nature

Simone Lamsma returns in the Matinee. Dark atmospheres surround the many shades of white in Sibelius' Violin Concerto.

Unspeakable drive of nature
With Roar of Nature, Chinese composer Xu Ke won First Prize at the 2019 Young Composer's Programme of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Kees Vlaardingerbroek, artistic director of the ZaterdagMatinee, was on the jury and recalls "a dark piece for large orchestra, expressing an unspeakable nature drive".
Nature was also a great source of inspiration for Jean Sibelius. The layered orchestrations of his Violin Concerto have often been described as the musical equivalent of rugged ice fields or snowy pine forests. Take the shimmering carpet of strings with which the first movement opens: as if you can hear the polar wind whipping through the trees. The British musicologist Donald Tovey heard a 'polonaise for polar bears' in the wild folk dance rhythm of the finale.

Prokofiev's dark Sixth
Sergei Prokofiev's Sixth Symphony dates from 1947 and, with its dark, sombre undertone, is a poignant lament for the horrors of the Second World War. In doing so, the composer offended Stalin. Less than a year later, the work was banned by the Soviet regime.

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