Mendelssohn and Beethoven

Violinist Judith Ingólfsson, daughter of Icelandic mathematician Ketill Ingólfsson, took her first steps in music as a student at a Reykjavík music school. She won the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 1998, and The New York Times has characterized her playing as producing “both fireworks and a singing tone.” Judith is now a professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart, and it is cause for celebration that she should return to Iceland to perform with the Iceland Symphony after a long hiatus. Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto is another cause for celebration — and a celebration in itself. By turns light and playful and poignant and lyrical, it gives the soloist ample opportunity to show the various shapes and colours of the violin.

Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7 is among the liveliest of his symphonies. Richard Wagner famously called it “the apotheosis of the dance”, and the second movement has become particularly popular, not least after it was used in the soundtrack of the hit film The King’s Speech. Sir Malcolm Sargent was one of Britain’s leading twentieth-century conductors, but he was also a fine composer. His musical snapshot of a blustery day was performed at the 2017 Last Night of the Proms concert under the baton of Sakari Oramo, whereupon critics unanimously expressed their astonishment that such a wonderful work had nearly been forgotten. At the podium is the Iceland Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor, Yan Pascal Tortelier.