Programme Guide

Christian Tetzlaff is acclaimed by the press as a “master violinist” who “loses himself in the compositions, who completely immerses himself, to emerge unpretentiously on the other side,” someone who is able to combine “dazzling technique and analytical acuity with overwhelming musicianship and a healthy dose of wit,” as a virtuoso who produces a “beauty and richness, variety and colourfulness of sound” from his instrument that is “simply amazing”. In the 2014/2015 season, the Berliner Philharmoniker were delighted to have the extraordinary musician Christian Tetzlaff as their Artist in Residence.

The musical high point of Christian Tetzlaff’s artistic partnership with the orchestra was undoubtedly his performance of Johannes Brahms’s Violin Concerto, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. The second half of the concert included Images by Claude Debussy, inspired by folk melodies from England, Spain and France, an orchestral triptych iridescent in every conceivable instrumental colour. The programme concluded with George Enescu’s First Romanian Rhapsody, inspired by the folklore of his homeland, a vibrant, instrumentally colourful piece that finishes with a furious stretta.