Sergei Krilov & Concerto Budapest

A premature birthday present from the oeuvre of Dmitrij Shostakovich sandwiched between two iconic compositions of 19th century German music: this is the programme of the concert under the baton on Kossuth Prize laureate András Keller, the solo violinist of which is Russian artist Sergei Krilov who always receives an enthusiastic welcome in Budapest. The connection between the overture to the Wagner opera The Mastersingers of Nürnberg and the symphonic poem by Richard Strauss, A Hero’s Life (1898), is by no means merely the matching of nationality and of century; after all, both works offer the possibility of interpretation as self-portraits in a considerate and even blunt manner, moreover, both works mock and get even with the composers’ opponents, that is, to put it unambiguously, critics. The A minor Violin Concerto with Krilov’s solo was dedicated for Shostakovich’s friend, the wonderful violinist David Oistrakh, who said of her: “This work gives the soloist an exceptionally interesting and attractive task.”