RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
Kazuki Yamada conductor
Simone Lamsma violin

Korngold Violin Concerto / 24’
Strauss An Alpine Symphony / 47’

Soundings: Free pre-concert talk at 6.30pm. Artist(s) in conversation.

It’s the end of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra’s season. And we thought we’d say thank you by treating you to a thrill-a-minute concerto by a Hollywood legend and a blockbuster musical trip to the snow-covered splendour of the Alps.

Handkerchiefs at the ready (blame it on early hay fever if you must) for the wonderfully monikered Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto – an hypnotic, heart-on-sleeve masterpiece of surging emotions that will inject itself straight into your bloodstream and may well change your life. Just don’t get soppy on us.

Movie buffs need no introduction to Korngold. But can you name the four film scores that are quoted in the concerto? For the uninitiated, he’s the sound of Hollywood at its most glamorous and thrilling who writes big tunes, luxurious melodies and can make a symphony orchestra do things you’d never imagined possible. The ‘electrifying’ (Classical Source) Simone Lamsma is our star soloist.

If you’re worried Richard Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony is going to be all sugar-saturated waltzes, don’t be – he wasn’t from that Strauss family. This is as lean, meaty and muscular as it gets. And as immediate as a musical Twitter-feed from base camp to summit, from one night to the next. En route, you’ll be treated to a masterpiece display of a symphony orchestra in all its poetic and powerful glory. Don’t forget to wear your walking boots!