Milton Keynes Sinfonia concert
20 November 2006
Another week, another Shostakovich symphony … On Saturday I was playing with Milton Keynes Sinfonia in a concert including Shostakovich’s 9th Symphony – a shorter, lighter and less angry work than the 10th – Shostakovich more in music theatre mode – with wonderful solos in the 2nd and 4th movements for clarinet and bassoon (wonderfully played on this occasion!). But the concert was dominated by an amazing performance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto by Bálint Székely. Bálint was born in 1977 in Marosvásárhely (Tg.-Mures), Transylvania and came to London in 1993 to study at the Purcell School of Music and the Royal College of Music. He is a very quiet, bashful young man but a jaw-droppingly brilliant violinist. At our rehearsal last Thursday he played the virtuoso passages of the concerto with ease, effortlessly improvising and trying a host of different approaches as we tried to raise our game to keep up. I have never known a rehearsal where an orchestra applauded a soloist so often and with such fervour! His performance on Saturday was stunning – particularly a mesmerising cadenza in the 1st movement. The Sibelius Violin Concerto was already one of my favourite pieces of music but I’ve fallen in love with it all over again in the last week – the slow movement must be one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. It was a real privilege to accompany Bálint Székely – note the name and watch out for him!
posted by Robin Simpson @ 12:15 pm
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