Benjamin Britten

Violin Concerto; Double Concerto for Violin and Viola

Baiba Skride, Ivan Vukčević, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Marin Alsop

C220021
1 CD
Barcode: 4011790220024
Release Date: 02/02/2024

The story of the discovery and resurrection of Britten’s Double Concerto for Violin and Viola is one of those rare musicological moments that can capture the interest of even the casual music lover. Britten had started composing it as a very young man but never quite finished it, even though the work had progressed quite far. So, it was only after his death that the premiere took place, in 1997. Unlike that work, the Violin Concerto, Op. 15 found itself immediately thrust onto the world’s musical stage, its genesis having been rather straightforward, if hardly smooth. Britten had left Great Britain before the outbreak of World War II in Europe and so he composed it in Canada and the US.