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Batiashvili on Bartok's Emotional Roller Coaster

Courtesy of the artist
Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili

On The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert this Sunday afternoon at 1 pm, a highly acclaimed Georgian soloist performs Bela Bartók’s first Violin Concerto. As WRTI's Jim Cotter reports, the work was written while the composer was under the spell of unrequited love.
 

Composer Bela Bartok (1881-1945)

Bartók wrote his first violin concerto not for, but about, the violinist Stefi Geyer, for whom he cared deeply. When she failed to reciprocate, he abandoned the piece and deemed that it not be played in his lifetime.  Violinist Lisa Batiashvili says much of its greatness lies in the roller coaster of emotions on show in the piece.

Though at times light hearted and lyrical, the work heaps technical challenges upon the soloist and the orchestra. Batiashvili says she was ready to rediscover its glories in Philadelphia.

Lisa Batiashvili joins Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert this Sunday afternoon at one on WRTI for a performance of Bela Bartók’s first Violin Concerto. Also on the program is Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony.

POALisa102014JCLF.mp3
Hear more of Jim's interview with Lisa Batiashvili.