KEY POINTS:
The vitality and elegance that are so much part of Baiba Skride's many recordings shine through when you meet the Latvian violinist, who is touring with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
The 27-year-old does not have any traumatic memories of Soviet-inflicted hardship.
"There are funny memories of standing in line for things and so on, but our parents always took good care of us," she says.
"However, we always knew that it wasn't possible for us to get out of the country and it was our dream that, one day, we might go to America or Germany."
In any case, a young student in Riga in the late 80s could not have experienced a finer violinist than fellow-Latvian Gidon Kremer, who was "always present in our lives".
"When I was growing up, we were so proud of him and concert halls were always full when he played. He is an amazing violinist who's probably played everything that was ever written."
Now Skride finds herself fascinated by the unpredictable life of the travelling musician. "There's always something new," she says. "Every orchestra you play with is different and it's your partner. You try to adjust yourself to the new orchestra and conductor and it's interesting how the mixture comes together in the end."
When I spoke to her, Skride had yet to meet Dmitri Sitkovetsky, her conductor on this tour, but she confessed to being in awe of his stature as a violinist.
"There are a lot of conductors who some time ago played the violin but this guy is still a soloist and he knows every single note. It's an honour to play with him."
Tomorrow's concerto is the Tchaikovsky and for Skride it comes with "great expectations, because everybody knows it and you have to compete with these amazing recordings from many great violinists".
"Everybody's expecting something particular and it's hard to get off these and do your own thing," Skride says.
"It's a deep piece even though some think it's just flashy. There is a real sadness and sense of the tragic to it and it has a lot to say."
Saturday's Britten Concerto is a rarely-heard work, "with such a big orchestration that it's really a symphony with a violin".
"There are a couple of places which are almost unplayable for the soloist but it somehow makes sense with the orchestra," she says. "When you're a young violinist at the start of your career, audiences usually want to hear romantic music and it's hard to push for something different. So it's good to be in a place where I can choose this concerto - not so many years ago, it might have been difficult to get such a piece accepted for a concert."
What: NZSO with Baiba Skride
Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, Friday 6.30pm, Saturday 8pm
