Sokhiev and Bronfman | Philharmonia Orchestra

Musical inspiration comes in all forms. Mendelssohn’s elemental ‘Hebridean’ overture sprang from a stormy encounter with the rugged seascape of the Western Highlands. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 flowered from a similarly barren bedrock – the 1809 French occupation of Vienna (‘nothing but drums, cannon, men, misery of all sorts’). Yet it remains one of the most original and virtuosic achievements of the concerto canon. The catalyst for Elgar’s perennially popular Enigma Variations was altogether more domestic. A light-hearted piano-side reverie caught his wife’s attention. Elgar then extemporised on its theme around various friends and acquaintances. The rest, as they say, is history…