Violinist Benjamin Morrison was born in Christchurch in 1986. He studied music in Wellington and by 21, he was in Vienna where he completed his bachelors and masters degrees. He landed a coveted position at the Vienna Philharmonic; the first Kiwi to do so.
Here Ben joins the APO for the first time in 14 years for a dynamic performance conducted by Giordano Bellincampi.
Programme:
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto in D Op 77;
SCHUBERT: Symphony No 9 in C D944, Great
Find out more and listen to this performance here:
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto in D Op 77
Benjamin Morrison with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Giordano Bellincampi
Violinist Benjamin Morrison Photo: Supplied
Johannes Brahms’ friendship with violinist Joseph Joachim changed the course of both men’s lives. Joachim’s exceptional musicianship inspired Brahms to write his only concerto for that instrument, and since Brahms only had a general knowledge of the violin’s capabilities, Joachim’s technical expertise proved essential to the concerto’s creation.
All through the gestation of the work, the two friends corresponded, shipping scores back and forth until it was finished. Brahms took many of his friend’s suggestions, but not all.
Brahms left it to Joachim to supply a cadenza for the first performance. But many others have written cadenzas for the work as well. Benjamin Morrison plays the one by Fritz Kreisler.
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Auckland Town Hall, 22 July 2021
Engineer: Adrian Hollay; Producer: Tim Dodd
SCHUBERT: Symphony No 9 in C D944, Great
The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Giordano Bellincampi
Giordano Bellincampi conducts the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Photo: ©Adrian Malloch
Schubert's Ninth Symphony's most obvious distinguishing feature is its size, or as Robert Schumann described when he rediscovered the work ten years after Schubert’s death, and brought it to the public’s attention, its "heavenly length".
With regard to length, Beethoven had set the precedent with his Ninth. Apparently, Schubert attended the premiere of that. There is certainly a quotation from that most famous contemporary symphony in the finale of Schubert’s work, possibly acknowledging his debt to his colleague, but also daring to compete with Beethoven’s reputation as a symphonist.
Schubert finished the symphony in 1825, and he presented it to the Austrian Philharmonic Society in October 1826. But the work was roundly rejected because of its unusual length and its technical difficulty. It wasn’t performed in his lifetime.
This symphony is sometimes called his Eighth and sometimes his Ninth. You may even run across an old recording that calls it his Seventh or stumble across mention of it as his Tenth. The simple answer for this confusing situation is that not a single one of Schubert’s symphonies was published during his lifetime — nor, apart from this work, until more than half a century after his death
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Auckland Town Hall, 22 July 2021
Engineer: Adrian Hollay; Producer: Tim Dodd
Rune Tonsgaard SØRENSEN: Shine You No More
An encore from violinist Benjamin Morrison, accompanied by Miranda Adams, Robert Ashworth and David Garner
Benjamin Morrison Photo: Michael Schnabl
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Auckland Town Hall, 22 July 2021
Engineer: Adrian Hollay; Producer: Tim Dodd
