The Sibelius Violin Concerto begins with a quiet, foggy soundscape of muted tremolo strings, over which the mysterious melody of the solo violin emerges, expressivity outlining the first themes of the movement.
Sibelius conceived this effective opening while travelling in 1901, in what was the beginning of an inspired compositional process. Sibelius had aspired to be a virtuoso violinist himself for many years and the Violin Concerto is the largest work he composed for his own instrument. However, many passages of the Concerto are likely to have exceeded Sibelius’ own abilities, for instance the prolonged cadenza in the first movement containing highly demanding double stops.
By and large, Sibelius adheres to the traditional concerto structure of three movements. In the second movement, ‘Adagio’, the orchestra evokes the melancholy of a Scandinavian Winter, which is mitigated by the warm tone of the solo violin. Thematically connected to the Adagio, the work’s finale is a virtuosic Rondo making use of extended technique with a relentlessly pounding pulse in three-quarter time.
Here is Janine Jansen playing this beautiful concerto:
