European Tour
Klaus Mäkelä
Lisa Batiashvili Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Jean Sibelius

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) wrote his Violin Concerto in D major in just a few spring weeks in 1878, in the Swiss town of Clarens by Lake Geneva. The first violinists who attempted to play it declared the concerto unplayable, and early performances were met with scathing reviews. Yet, it soon gained immense popularity and has remained a favorite among audiences ever since.

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) based the four tone poems of Lemminkäinen (1896) on stories from the Finnish national epic, Kalevala, where Lemminkäinen is portrayed as a fearless adventurer and charmer—a kind of Finnish Don Juan.

The first tone poem depicts Lemminkäinen’s adventures among the maidens on a mythical, exotic island. In the following two, he journeys to the realm of the dead and is slain, only to be revived in the final movement. The most famous piece from the suite is The Swan of Tuonela, which portrays the mystical bird guarding the underworld.