SIBELIUS VIOLIN CONCERTO PROFESSIONAL
SIBELIUS VIOLIN CONCERTO SERIES

The celebrated Scottish musicologist Sir Donald Tovey labeled it “a polonaise for polar bears.” It contains the concerto’s highest share of technical demands, and builds up a vibrant head of steam en route to the dynamic conclusion.

Typically for Sibelius, the finale isn’t a jolly, dancing romp, but an exciting, insistently rhythmic rondo. In its wake, some sense of emotional resolution is at last achieved. The emotional temperature rises towards the middle, first through orchestral surges, then increasingly so as the soloist joins in, leading to a powerful climax. The first half of the second movement is quite restrained. Stephen Johnson explores Sibeliuss Violin Concerto with the help of violinist Vilde Frang and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pietari Inkinen. April 10, 2022, 11:08 AM I saw an interview with Maxim Vengerov where he spoke about an original version of. The first performance was given by Finish violinist Victor. Original version of Sibelius Violin Concerto. The conclusion of the movement is uncompromisingly stern. The original version of Jean Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor premiered on this day in 1904. The second subject is highly expressive, almost passionate. The solo violin emerges out of a murmuring bed of strings, with a long, yearning theme of ever-growing intensity. Sibelius gave the concerto a superbly atmospheric opening that casts an immediate spell of mystery. (You can compare the original and revised versions of the concerto with a CD featuring violinist Leonidas Kavakos on the BIS label: BIS CD-500). This version achieved everything that the first had not. Strauss conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in the concerto’s second debut on October 19, with the orchestra’s Concertmaster, Carl Halir, playing the solo part.

SIBELIUS VIOLIN CONCERTO SERIES

He revised it during the summer of 1905, spurred on by his publisher’s success in placing the piece in the concert series staged in Berlin by composer/conductor Richard Strauss. Burmester being unavailable on such short notice, the solo part was played by the little-known and relatively inexperienced Viktor Nováček.

The acclaimed soloist Willy Burmester had made repeated requests for him to do so, and by that time Sibelius felt prepared to fulfill the commission successfully.įor a number of reasons, including the pressing need for cash that regularly plagued him, the première was given at a hastily-organized concert in Helsinki on February 8, 1904.

SIBELIUS VIOLIN CONCERTO PROFESSIONAL

On the other hand, these circumstances ensured that he had no need to consult a professional soloist when he set to a work on this concerto in September 1902. Sibelius’s early desire had been for a career as a violin soloist, but his talent as a performer proved insufficient. Sibelius, Jean - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.

Sibelius violin concerto