Alban Berg - Violin Concerto “To The Memory of an Angel“ (1935)
Violin - Louis Krasner
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Conductor - Anton Webern
Recorded live on May 1, 1936 at a private concert
Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto was written in 1935 (the score is dated 11 August 1935). It is probably Berg’s best-known and most frequently performed instrumental piece, which was a commission from Louis Krasner, and it became the last work that he completed. The title “To The Memory of An Angel“ is a dedication to the death of Manon Gropius (daughter of his close friend Alma Mahler), and Berg himself died on Christmas Eve of 1935 due to an infection from a bug bite on his back that occured the previous month. Krasner performed the solo part in the premiere at the Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona on 19 April 1936, after the composer’s death, conducted by Hermann Scherchen. (Scherchen only had 24 hours notice before the premiere, as Anton Webern pulled out last min