Videostream: Benedetti’s Blue Notes

With her deep musicality and stage charisma, violinist Nicola Benedetti has positioned herself as one of the world’s foremost soloists in classical music. On this, her long-awaited return to the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, she treats us to the American jazz musician Wynton Marsalis’ wonderfully bluesy Violin Concerto, which he composed specifically for her. She and conductor Cristian Macelaru each received a Grammy in the category ”Best Classical Instrumental Solo” for their work with this very Violin Concerto.

After the intermission we meet Richard Strauss’ masterful and lavish Ein Heldenleben, a wonderfully self-absorbed heroic tale in which the composer uproariously illustrates friends and enemies, war and peace. But this work also has an element of seriousness in its undertones – Strauss was highly aware of what a phenomenal orchestrator and orchestral magician he was, as he made clear when he gallantly waved his magic wand.

The orchestra is led by the acclaimed Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Chief Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.