About the Concert

For two hundred years, Haydn's D major cello concerto lay in the Prague National Library, and no one knew it. Or rather: everyone thought it had been composed by someone else. It was not until 1951 that the original manuscript was found, and today, this virtuosic yet simultaneously cantabile work is indispensable in concert halls around the world. Elgar's String Serenade, which opens the concert, was the first "hit" of the composer. Right from the start, a mysterious pizzicato creates a special atmosphere, and the slow middle movement is so beloved by the English that it is still often played at memorial services and weddings.

William Lawes was one of the most distinctive and headstrong composers of the Elizabethan era; his beautiful Fantasy in G minor was originally a work for viol consort. Arthur Bliss's "A Colour Symphony," finally, is inspired by the symbolic meanings of various colours. Here, musical and visual layers merge into a multifaceted interpretation of colour and sound.

• Concert as part of the Dresden Music Festival