The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen / Patricia Kopatchinskaja / Pekka Kuusisto

With Samuel Barber’s »Adagio«, the programme begins with a piece that explores the sound of a full string orchestra in its entire depth. After this melancholic curtain-raiser, a work takes to the stage whose complexities have certainly made some musicians get their fingers in knots. To breathe life into the demanding lines and figurations of Arnold Schönberg’s violin concerto calls for an artist of Kopatchinskaja’s calibre. She combines supreme technique with perfect versatility and musical imagination.

After the interval, Kuusisto then plunges into the existential drama of Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet music of »Romeo and Juliet« with the Kammerphilharmonie. Captivating melodies, brilliant orchestration, snappy rhythms and devastating tragedy – with these ingredients, Prokofiev portrayed the greatest love story of all time and in so doing created one of his most popular works.