Berg's Violin Concerto

Ian Skelly presents a concert from the Barbican Hall in London, recorded on 26th February 2026.

Alban Berg's violin concerto is one the composer's most beloved pieces, and it was an intensely personal work serving both as a memorial to the daughter of dear friends and ultimately as the composer's own requiem; he died less than four months after finishing the score.

The first performance of Rachmaninov's youthful First Symphony was such a disaster (thanks to a poorly prepared orchestra and allegedly drunk conductor) that he wrote almost nothing after it for three years, such was the depression he sank into. Now the piece is regarded as a great masterpiece of a talented young composer.

The London Symphony Orchestra with conductor Gianandrea Noseda perform two more great masterpieces, joined by one of the greatest violinists of our time, Patricia Kopatchinskaja.

Debussy: "Nuages" and "Fêtes" (From "Three Nocturnes")
Berg: Violin Concerto
Rachmaninov: Symphony No 1

Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin)
London Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda (conductor)