Benjamin Britten, whose centenary we celebrate in 2013, channeled his rejection of war and hatred of fascism in his Violin Concerto. The work, a landmark of the repertoire, is unbridled in its lyricism and constitutes a poignant commentary on the devastating violence of his time.

Nearly 70 years after the Holocaust, with the same concerns as Britten, composer Jonathan Berger has also turned to a violin concerto. 'Jiyeh', a town on the Lebanese coast, 27 km south of Beirut and 10km north of Sidon, is built on the ancient city of Porphyreon, where a whale was purported to have returned Jonah to the shore. It is also the site of a major oil spill in 2006 caused by rocket fire on the third day of the military conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Jonathan Berger became obsessed by patterns on satellite pictures of the spill which in turn inspired his violin concerto written for, and premiered by, Livia Sohn in 2007.

Artists:
Britten - Violin Concerto op.15
Livia Sohn (violin)
Orchestra del Teatro Marrucino di Chieti / Luigi Piovano

Berger - Jiyeh
Livia Sohn (violin), Jan Rokyta (cimbalom)
Banff Centre Chamber Orchestra / Henk Guittart

“Livia Sohn possesses a remarkably lithe and transparent tone of exceptional purity. [Her] virtually blemishless accounts are nothing short of remarkable. Even when under the most fearsome technical pressure at high velocity, every note rings true with pinpoint accuracy.” - The Strad Magazine