Performance on 3 - 06/11/2007

Tom Service presents a concert recorded at London's Royal Festival Hall, in which Vladimir Ashkenazy leads the Philharmonia Orchestra in three works from the heart of 19th century German Romanticism. Wagner's overture to Die Meistersinger lifts the curtain on his human love story set against the background of a song competition in Nuremburg. Starry soloist Vadim Repin joins the orchestra to perform one of the most romantic and popular violin concertos in the repertoire, while Schumann's Second Symphony was written at a time when the composer was teetering on the edge of physical and mental breakdown. Wagner: Overture (Die Meistersinger) Bruch: Violin Concerto No 1 Schumann: Symphony No 2.