Britten: Violin Concerto Op. 15 & Berger: Jiyeh

Description

Britten’s Violin Concerto: a call for peace. Benjamin Britten, whose centenary we celebrate in this year 2013, channeled his rejection of war and his hatred of fascism into his Violin Concerto op.15. This major work in the repertoire, with its unbridled lyricism, is a poignant commentary on the devastating violence of its time. Nearly seventy years after the Shoah, with the same concerns as Britten, composer Jonathan Berger also turned to a violin concerto, Jiyeh, a work revealing his opposition to war, violence and inhumanity. Paired together, these two works offer a musical reflection on a world gone mad, from composers whose aesthetics, despite their stylistic diversity, share the same lyrical and expressive sensibility. In these troubled times, when it seems important to refocus on the important things in life, it seemed essential to us to release this album to raise one more voice against events that should never happen again. Livia Sohn, an outstanding violinist who premiered Berger’s Concerto in 2007, reveals these works to us as a call for peace, full of sensitivity, hope and humanity.