Few twentieth-century works are as wrenchingly moving as Berg’s Violin Concerto. A memorial piece – “dedicated to the memory of an angel” – the concerto reflects on a mood of loss and resignation. Initially the violin and orchestra are in constant tension with each other but this agitation paves the way for a more reflective conclusion, the piece expertly exploring the grief process. Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, written whilst the composer was himself gravely ill, is an intensely personal work heard as both the ultimate farewell and a final homecoming. Leonard Bernstein said of Mahler’s last completed work ‘It is terrifying, and paralyzing, as the strands of sound disintegrate…in ceasing we lose it all. But in letting go, we have gained everything’.
More concerts with Esa-Pekka Salonen
Salonen at BBC Proms 2013
Aug 29 2013, 19:30 - Royal Albert Hall
Esa Pekka Salonen conducts Bruckner at BBC Proms 2013
Salonen conducts in Vienna
Sep 06 2013, 19:00 - Schloss Grafenegg
Salonen conducts Beethoven's Eroica Symphony









