Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto – Julian Rachlin, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Riccardo Chailly

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky needed only a few weeks to compose his famous violin concerto at the beginning of the year 1878 at until today it is one of the most played pieces worldwide. The audience at the premiere in 1881 in Vienna, though, had a rather mixed reaction: The wild and fanciful concerto instantly gained enthusiastic fans as well as fierce opponents.

One of these opponents was the renowned Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick, who polemically asked if there was music that one could “hear stinking”! But already one year later, when the first movement was first played in Leipzig by Adolph Brodsky, the music world had found a common denominator: this was one of the greatest violin concertos of the century.

In this concert, Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece is performed by Julian Rachlin, one of the most interesting and renowned violinists of our time. Always on the lookout for new challenges he is also successful as a violist and conductor and in 2003 he founded the internationally praised festival “Julian Rachlin & friends” in Dubrovnik. His fiery but also emotional playing together with the wonderful sound of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under the musical direction of its chief conductor Riccardo Chailly made this a performance to remember.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto in D major op. 35

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Riccardo Chailly, conductor
Julian Rachlin, violin