Jean Sibelius - Violin Concerto in D minor

- Composer: Johan Julius Christian Sibelius (8 December 1865 -- 20 September 1957) - Orchestra: Stockholm Radio Symphony Orchestra - Conductor: Sixten Ehrling - Soloist: Camilla Wicks - Year of recording: 1952 Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47, written in 1903-1904. 00:00 - I. Allegro moderato in D minor 15:53 - II. Adagio di molto in B-flat major 24:27 - III. Allegro, ma non tanto in D major The Violin Concerto is not the only work Sibelius wrote for solo violin with orchestra; he wrote a variety of excellent, shorter works including Two Serenades (1913) and Six Humoresques (1917). But the concerto is certainly the most ambitious of all these works. Despite the early enthusiasm of a few violinists -- notably Maud Powell, who was the soloist in the American premiere with the New York Philharmonic in 1906 and repeated the work several times on a transcontinental tour -- the concerto was slow to catch on with audiences. Not until Jascha Heifetz took up the work and