Abbey Road Concerto (arr. Guy Braunstein)

Program notes

About the Work

The Abbey Road Concerto is a recent hybrid: a violin concerto built from the songs of the Beatles’ celebrated 1969 album Abbey Road, created by the violinist Guy Braunstein, for many years concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic. Familiar melodies from the album are interwoven with Braunstein’s own music, which stitches the songs into the larger shape of a concerto, and the orchestration is by the composer and arranger Ljova (Lev Zhurbin).

The result is neither a medley nor a straight transcription but a concerto that happens to be woven from beloved tunes, heard through the lens of the classical concert tradition. It is a piece that lives in two worlds at once, which is exactly the spirit of tonight’s programme: before the interval, music by two American-Jewish artists, Bernstein and Braunstein; after it, the Bohemian world of Dvořák and Smetana. Braunstein himself takes the solo part.

What to Listen For

Half the fun is recognising the songs, so listen for famous melodies from Abbey Road surfacing in the solo violin and the orchestra, with the violin taking the place of the singer and finding the vocal line in each song.

But listen, too, for the connective tissue, Braunstein’s own music, which binds the songs into a concerto shape rather than a jukebox sequence. Notice how the Beatles’ material is developed and transformed, and how the solo writing balances tunefulness with real virtuosity. This is crossover at its most affectionate: concert craftsmanship in the service of some of the best-loved songs ever written.