Alexander Zemlinsky: New Violin Concerto

Musikverein Vienna

Alexander Zemlinsky wrote his Serenade for violin and piano in 1896 at the age of just 25. Although it is very securely rooted in the style of the 19th century, the five-movement work already shows great compositional skill.

Responding to a request by the violinist Elena Denisova, the composer Franz Hummel has now arranged the work for violin and orchestra: “Zemlinsky’s Serenade for violin and piano in five movements, a charming early work that may owe its existence to the recollection of an encounter with the bluntly critical Johannes Brahms, radiates so much youthful esprit that I had to agree with Elena Denisova when she told me it deserved to be orchestrated.”

The world première of Zemlinsky’s first “Violin Concerto” will take place on 20 March at the Musikverein in Vienna. Alexei Kornienko conducts the Vienna Concert-Verein with Elena Denisova as soloist.