Berlin Philharmonic Violin concert in Japan, May 2006

 

The Berlin Phil Violin Ensemble is a unique group of 10 violinists (with piano) which was
formed in 1993 by Laurentius Dinca. This time with Chisako Takashima on violin.
The performance was a collection of famous and relaxing musical works; the first half beginning 
with Pachelbel's "Canon", then Glinka's "Ruslan and Ludmilla" Overture, after which Ms.Takashima
took to the stage to join them with Massenet's "Meditation from Thais" playing on the 1736 Stradivarius
"Lucy".  After some pleasant talk, Andreas Neufeld joined them to perform the Spanish dance music 
"Navarra" by Sarasate and finally the the ensemble alone played the Brahms Hungarian Dances numbers
 1, 6 and 5.

The second half of the concert began with arrangements of Japanese children's songs by Ken Niikura 
(Kojo no Tsuki, Aka Tombo, Hamabe no Uta) performed together with Ms. Takashima. These were followed
by a kind of new baroque music entitled "Do you like Vivaldi?" composed by Ladislav Kupkovic and featuring
the ensemble's leader Laurentius Dinca as a soloist. The program ended with suite from "Carmen" by Bizet 
and the Overture from "Die Fledermaus" of Johann Strauss Jr..
(May 31st, Bunkyo Civic Hall)
(Hirokazu Asaoka)