Rediscovered and published posthumously in 2007, Messiaen’s early Fantaisie sets the mood for Carolin Widmann’s uplifting recital with her long-term duo partner Alexander Lonquich. The German violinist, praised by BBC Music Magazine for her ‘beguiling subtlety of phrasing, tonal colour and dynamic shading’, continues with three different approaches to the sonata genre, each distinguished by their bold ideas and abundance of melodic invention.

EPSG:4326

Carolin Widmann violin; Alexander Lonquich piano

Wigmore Hall

Šostakovič - Symphony No. 5

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre

With A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mendelssohn whisks you away to his enchanting fairytale world from the very first notes. Pianist Alexander Lonquich, a master of early Romantic repertoire, brings brilliance to Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto – a work with a hidden story. Did you know a passage was composed by Delphine von Schauroth, a German pianist, though her name never made the title page? Mendelssohn’s music, in turn, inspired his friend Robert Schumann, whose ‘Rhenish’ Symphony flows like the majestic Rhine, perhaps echoing his visit to Cologne Cathedral. Under Philippe Herreweghe’s baton, Schumann’s grandeur and Mendelssohn’s magic come alive in this collaboration with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra.