A superbly crafted 20th-century English concerto that is well worth getting to know is bookended by two iconic 19th-century German orchestral works: this is the "concert sandwich" Concerto Budapest offers its audience this evening. The Academic Festival Overture, which is not short of cheerful and boisterous moments evoking student life, was written for the conferral of an honorary doctorate on Johannes Brahms. It is followed by William Walton’s Violin Concerto, composed almost 60 years later in 1939. The virtuosic character of the work, performed here with Frank Peter Zimmermann as soloist, is explained by the fact it was written at the behest of the incomparable violinist Jascha Heifetz. The entire second half of the concert is devoted to Richard Strauss’s 1896 symphonic poem, which pays homage to the passionate and visionary work of the German philosopher whose influence remains undiminished to this day. The title page of the score bears the words: “Freely after Friedrich Nietzsche”.

Presented by: Concerto Budapest