Repertoire

Eduard Toldrà: Empúries, a sardana for orchestra (1926) 7′
Luca Francesconi: Corpo elettrico violin concerto, (2020) 30′ – National premiere, co-commissioned by L’Auditori
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique Symphony” (1893) 45′

ARTISTS

Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin
Ludovic Morlot, conductor

Programme

When the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra was created in 1944, Eduard Toldrà was its founding conductor. Before the Spanish Civil War, however, he had excelled both as a great violinist and as a composer, while his sardana Empúries, premiered by the Pau Casals Orchestra, won him an award.

Patricia Kopatchinskaja is likewise an exceptional violinist. She will be playing Corpo elettrico, a work by Luca Francesconi, which has finally arrived in Barcelona. Commissioned in 2020 by various musical institutions – including L’Auditori – both the premiere and its eagerly awaited performance in the Catalan capital were delayed by the pandemic.

An epidemic also affected the composer of the last piece. Cholera killed Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky just nine days after the premiere of his Sixth “Pathétique” Symphony, on which he had worked tirelessly, seeking “an exemplary symphony”, in the final months of his life.