Jean Sibelius was just a teenager when he started playing violin and even dreamed of being a virtuoso, actively pursuing a performing career into his early twenties. However, his struggle with stage fright kept his dream from becoming a reality, but his love for violin paved the way for one of his greatest works: the Violin Concerto in D Minor, op. 47.

The first public performance of the concerto was in 1904 and ended up being a disaster. The soloist was not prepared for the technical demands of the piece, leaving Sibelius to revise the concerto and search for a new soloist. The second performance in 1905, featuring seventeen-year-old prodigy Ferenc von Vecsey, was a massive success and was performed in Berlin under the direction of Richard Strauss. After its successful return to the stage, it was made popular by violin legend Jascha Heifetz and rightfully acquired its place in standard violin literature.

From the opening of the movement, listeners are transported to icy Finland by a shimmering ostinato in the violin section. The soloist enters delicately dissonant and offbeat, spinning a haunting melody that is echoed by a single clarinet. More instruments gradually join the orchestral accompaniment, dramatically increasing in dynamic until the soloist performs a short cadenza. This cadenza ushers the orchestra into a full symphonic tutti which perfectly showcases Sibelius’ compositional expertise. The second theme of the concerto is lush and moody before turning dark and stormy. The storm clears as the soloist begins the unaccompanied cadenza, outlining the full extent of the instrument’s range. The cadenza is virtuosic, almost yearning, and ends with an intense slowing of tempo before the first theme reappears. It begins as a variation of the opening before morphing into the original theme. The ending of the section is different this time, ending with a rapid ascending scale in the solo line. The third orchestral tutti is triumphant and majestic before quietly leading the ensemble into the return of the second theme. It starts intimately before exploding into the soaring, lyrical melody in the violin solo. The music becomes more serious as the soloist floats to the top of an arpeggio and then gradually descends to a prolonged trill. The audience is then whisked away into the coda, which is a true test of the soloist’s energy and stamina. The Sibelius violin concerto is a glorious journey from beginning to end which has stood the test of time and is one of the most important concertos in the repertoire.