Coll

Composers have always worked best when writing for a muse. Spain’s Francisco Coll has collaborated with Moldovan-Austrian violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja several times over recent years, but it’s in his Violin Concerto where we get the most vivid sense of their extraordinary meeting of minds. Its frenetic opening movement, the tender, atmospheric second, and the restless finale are all brilliant vehicles for Kopatchinskaja’s mischievousness and insatiable musical curiosity. Mural, a showcase for Coll’s imaginative orchestration, combines a heart-melting post-Romanticism with bursts of modernism that inject sudden, vibrant colour. And we see a totally different side to the composer in 4 Iberian Miniatures, folk-inspired explosions of raucous fun. Kopatchinskaja is once again in the driver’s seat, bringing the piece’s irresistible dance rhythms to life.