Sibelius, Jean - Nielsen & Sibelius: Violin Concertos - Dalene, Johan

Alongside Grieg, the two giants of Nordic classical music were born in 1865. Both also received their first musical training in violin playing, which gave them valuable knowledge of composing for this instrument. Their violin concertos were composed about six years apart – Sibelius's in 1904–05 and Nielsen's in 1911 – and are among the most frequently performed works by both composers. However, they are as different from each other as the artistic personalities of their creators. Retaining the traditional three-movement concerto form, Sibelius composed something closer to a late Romantic orchestral poem, which gave the orchestra an unusual significance. Nielsen, on the other hand, chose an unconventional form reminiscent of the Baroque concerto grosso: the prickly, neoclassical work is nominally in two movements, but each movement has a slow and a fast section. These works are performed here by Johan Dalene, the Swedish-Norwegian winner of the 2019 Nielsen Competition. This album is the 21-year-old violinist's third release on the BIS label. His recording of the Tchaikovsky concerto was described by BBC Music Magazine as "one of the best violin debuts of the last decade."