Michael Sanderling conducts Sibelius and Brahms | Philharmonia Orchestra

Michael Sanderling conducts two key late romantic works: Sibelius’s darkly beautiful Violin Concerto and Brahms’s masterful Fourth Symphony.

Brahms called his Fourth “my sad symphony,” but this modest adjective belies the composer’s emotional range and consummate structural skill. His friend, the critic Eduard Hanslick, put it better: “It is like a dark well; the longer we look into it, the more brightly the stars shine back.” Michael Sanderling is an insightful guide to the subtle joys and rewarding depths of this cornerstone of the symphonic repertoire.

Sibelius began his musical life as a violinist, and brought his first-hand knowledge of the instrument’s capabilities and huge expressive potential to his only concerto. By turns hauntingly beautiful and devilishly virtuosic, the piece makes huge demands on the soloist. Austrian violinist Emanuel Tjeknavorian is more than equal to its challenges - in 2015, aged just 20, he won the prize for best interpretation of this concerto at the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition.