Sonnenring for violin and orchestra (world premiere)

Program notes

About the Work

This concert features a world premiere: Sonnenring, a new work for violin and orchestra by Richard Dubugnon, co-commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra and given here for the first time, with Janine Jansen as soloist. The pairing is significant. Dubugnon and Jansen have a long creative partnership, and he has written several works for her, including his Violin Concerto, so this new piece comes from a composer writing intimately for a soloist he knows well.

The German title ‘Sonnenring’ means ‘sun ring’, which suggests a halo or corona, a ring of light around the sun. The LSO calls Dubugnon a master of orchestral colour, and a title like this hints at a work concerned with radiance and light, perhaps the play of brilliance around the singing line of the solo violin. At around half an hour it is a substantial piece. As a brand-new work it comes without preconceptions; what we can expect, on the evidence of Dubugnon’s other music and his rapport with Jansen, is a vivid, communicative showcase for one of the world’s great violinists. It sits intriguingly between the icy myth of Sibelius’s swan and the frozen grandeur of Vaughan Williams’s Antarctic symphony.

What to Listen For

Come to this premiere with open ears: there is no recording to anticipate. Listen for the relationship between the solo violin and the orchestra, how Jansen’s line sings, soars and is coloured by the instrumental halo around it (the ‘sun ring’ of the title may well be reflected in shimmering, radiant orchestral textures). Dubugnon is a colourful, dramatic orchestrator, so listen for vivid instrumental effects and a strong sense of atmosphere and momentum. Above all, let Janine Jansen, one of the most charismatic and intense violinists before the public, guide you through this new music written to display exactly her kind of artistry.