The first presentation of «Bicentennial Initiative 1821-2021» from London, in cooperation with the London Symphony Orchestra.
In honour of the 200 years of Greek independence, Sir Simon Rattle, Leonidas Kavakos and the London Symphony Orchestra swing from profound sorrow to boundless joy, with Viennese classics by Schubert and Berg. Schubert’s ‘Great’ C major symphony is a vast, sunlit voyage through the Romantic imagination and sweeps you away. Berg’s Violin Concerto is at the opposite emotional extreme – absolute sorrow distilled into almost unbearable beauty, and dedicated ‘to the memory of an angel’. It’s played today by Leonidas Kavakos. ‘I doubt if there is more than a handful of violinists alive who can match Kavakos’ wrote Gramophone, and when the LSO played this concerto with him in 2012, the Daily Telegraph praised his ‘heroic strength and purity of tone … with everything aspiring towards a celestial purity’. We’ve all been through a lot since then: just another reason to suspect that this performance will be something very special indeed.
ERT, Greek Public Broadcasting, the communications sponsor of “Inititative 2021”, premiered the Symphony on TV on 30th January 2021.
Megaron – the Athens Concert Hall would like to thank “Initiative 2021” and the LSO for granting the on demand streaming rights for its site.
This performance is supported by the National Bank of Greece to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of Greek Independence, within the context of the ‘Bicentennial Initiative 1821–2021’, in which leading Greek foundations are taking part.
You can watch the Symphony here
