Pinchas Zukerman conducts and performs Beethoven's Violin Concerto

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Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

- WEBER Oberon Overture
- BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto
- DVORAK Symphony No.8

After a successful tour of the United States with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (directing from his violin!), legendary maestro Pinchas Zukerman is both conductor and soloist in this performance of Beethoven's exquisite Violin Concerto, composed in 1806 and give its notorious première (complete with interspersed novelty items) that same year. Curiously, the Concerto was slow to gain acceptance, perhaps because of its length and 'weighty' content, leading to Beethoven himself reworking it as a piano concerto. It was only after his death that the Concerto's worth was fully recognised, and it is now revered for that sublime creation that it is.

Dvorak composed his Symphony No.8 in 1889, declaring his intention to write a score that was 'different from the other symphonies, with individual thoughts worked out in new ways'. This engaging symphony proclaims its originality throughout, from the beautiful 'wrong key' melody that opens the work to the finale's colourful variations, complete with interpolations from a raucous village band.