Elgar’s epic Violin Concerto was composed for celebrated Viennese virtuoso Fritz Kreisler, who shortly before giving the 1910 world première in London vowed ‘I will shake the Queen’s Hall!’ He obviously had the desired effect as according to one reviewer, ‘for a quarter of an hour they called and recalled the man [Elgar] who had achieved a triumph not only for himself, but also for England, and hailed him as master and hero.’ Elgar’s own opinion was that ‘It’s good! Awfully emotional! Too emotional...but I love it.’ The score’s enigmatic Spanish inscription is now thought to refer to Alice Stuart-Wortley, whom Elgar referred to affectionately as his ‘windflower’.
Click here to view an interactive online version of the 2012/13 season brochure
More concerts at Royal Festival Hall
Young Composers Academy
Jun 27 2013, 18:00 - Royal Festival Hall
New works from the Young Composers Academy.
Temirkanov conducts in London
Jun 27 2013, 19:30 - Royal Festival Hall
Yuri Termirkanov conducts Mussorgsky’s great Pictures at an Exhibition, Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with soloist Sayaka Shoji
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London 2012/13 season
Explore our 2012/13 season at Southbank Centre
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Find out more about Vladimir Ashkenazy and his work as Conductor Laureate of the Philharmonia
Symphony No. 5 in E minor
Download Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5.
