Inaugural concert of the Karol Lipiński Violin Festival - Michał Staśkiewicz in memoriam will be marked by the works of three composers: Johannes Brahms, Maciej Bałenkowski and Karol Lipiński.

Honorary Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda under the 5th International
Karol Lipiński Violin Festival and Competition

Artists:
Ilya Kaler - violin
Mariusz Smolij - conductor
Toruń Symphony Orchestra

Introduction: Urszula Guźlecka

Programme:
M. Bałenkowski - Hommage à Lipiński
K. Lipiński - Symfonia B-dur op. 2
J. Brahms - Koncert skrzypcowy D-dur op. 77
 

The Festival’s opening concert, dedicated to the late Michał Staśkiewicz, will present several musical pieces by three composers: Johannes Brahms, Maciej Bałenkowski and Karol Lipiński.
Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D major Op. 77 builds on Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major Op. 61. The virtuoso part for the violin gives little room for the soloist to fully display his or her talent, since the symphonic character of the piece makes it necessary to keep perfect pace with the orchestra. The concert resulted from the composer’s cooperation with the Hungarian violinist and friend Joseph Joachim, the dedicatee of the work.
Concert Op. 77 is technically challenging, but the difficulty lies not only in the complexities of virtuoso acrobatics, but also in striking the right balance between the solo and orchestra parts, which requires a high volume of lusciously overwhelming sound and a high level of mastery in shaping the dramaturgy of the work by means of dynamic, articulative and colour contrasts.
Hommage à Lipiński for symphony orchestra by Maciej Bałenkowski is a composition commissioned by the Toruń Symphony Orchestra. Its world premiere took place on 13 September 2019. A privileged role in the piece is reserved for strings. In his Hommage à Lipiński, the composer combines musical tradition with modernity and his own individual style, with its characteristically complex metro-rhythmic solutions and all-pervading vitalism.
Karol Lipiński’s Symphony in B flat major Op. 2 No. 3 ‘Sinfonia avec accompagnement de plusieurs instruments’ is the earliest of all symphonies composed by him. Written in 1810, when the composer was residing in Lviv, the four-part work was commissioned for Count Starzeński’s small orchestra, of which Lipiński was a member. It was inspired by Joseph Haydn’s classical symphonies, without which the symphonies by Beethoven, and later by Brahms, Lipiński and other masters of Romantic music would never have come to exist.