Having negotiated the sometimes difficult transition from child prodigy to professional musician with absolute serenity, violinist Midori continued to develop her outstanding artistry. Now, at the height of her musical maturity, she consistently offers some of the finest interpretations to be heard in the temples of classical music all over the world. On her return visit to Barcelona, she will be performing the magnificent Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with us. When the Russian composer wrote this work in 1878, he did not expect it to be rejected by the violinist for whom it was intended on the grounds that it was “unplayable”. After its premiere in Vienna in 1881, one critic notoriously dismissed it as “stinking music”. Despite the difficulty of the solo part, the work soon captured the imagination of the world’s finest violinists and it has long been a staple of the repertoire. It was in Vienna just two years later, in 1883, that Brahms began work on his Third Symphony. Its initial reception was very different from that of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto: hugely popular from the start, it had soon been performed dozens of times across Europe. This prompted Brahms to declare, “If it is so popular, it is because audiences have understood nothing.” He was keen for the lyricism and introspective nature of the work to be appreciated above the lively character of certain passages. And it is the rich variety of this symphony that makes it such a glorious work: sit back, listen carefully and let its music touch your heart…