Beethoven & Bruch with Nicola Benedetti

Star violinist Nicola Benedetti CBE is the perfect interpreter of Bruch’s rhapsodic Scottish Fantasy, a homage to her homeland.

One of Bruch’s best-loved pieces, the Fantasy is concerto-like in scale, with each of its three movements based on a different Scottish folksong. For Benedetti, the Philharmonia’s Featured Artist this season, this is music close to her heart.

There’s so much more to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 than that stop-you-in-your-tracks opening. And whether you’ve heard a dozen different recordings, or never listened to it all the way through, it’s well worth experiencing it live. The opening ‘Fate’ idea returns in the mysterious Scherzo, and the finale takes us from that eerie, shadowy world into a blaze of dazzling light.

The programme also features the dramatic Overture No. 1 by French composer Louise Farrenc. Celebrated in her lifetime for her music of power and poise, an acclaimed concert pianist and internationally renowned teacher, she was the only woman professor at the Paris Conservatoire in the whole of the 19^th century.