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THE VIENNA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Before a rapt audience at the Music Academy, the Vienna
Chamber Orchestra, led by Japanese-born Violinist Joji Hattori,
presented an instantly appealing offering of music by Vivaldi,
Mozart, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Strauss.
 The
concert (with Joji Hattori as soloist) opened with the most famous
of Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi's compositions - the Spring
Concerto in E major from the Four Seasons. Evocative
music is difficult to compose with credibility. Vivaldi goes beyond
this, by creating what must surely rank as one of the most successful
(and beautiful) attempts at "programme music" in history.
This was followed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Violin Concerto
No. 4 KV 218 in D major. Behind the apparent wild-eyed spontaneity
of this masterwork lies a haunting beauty that endures long after
the performance itself has ended. Very typical of Mozart.
The second half of the programme started with Franz Schubert's
Polonaise in B major D 580 for Violin and Orchestra. And
for the final piece, Hattori laid down his bow for the baton, as
he led the Orchestra through a spirited rendition of Tchaikovsky's
String Serenade Opus 48. For those who had heard only the
popular second movement of this work before, it was a pleasant surprise
to find every one of the four movements charged with the same magnetism
that is so characteristic of Russia's greatest composer.
 The
Orchestra ended the evening with perhaps the most fitting encores
possible for the event - Waltz King Johann Strauss' Vienna Blood,
followed by the best loved waltz ever - The Beautiful Blue
Danube.
The Vienna Chamber Orchestra was established in 1946 and has since
emerged as a music-making body of international repute. Joji Hattori,
who made his UK debut with Lord Yehudi Menuhin and the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra, is presently a successful concert and
recording artiste and is Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy
of Music, London. The concert at Music Academy was dedicated
to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) completing
50 years.
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