The celebrated international virtuoso James Ehnes joins the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner in this exploration of Sibelius’s extensive output for violin and orchestra. Sibelius studied the violin in his youth, and actively entertained the prospect of a career as a professional violinist for much of his student life. It therefore comes as no surprise that the instrument plays an important place in his compositional output. What might be surprising is that he wrote only one concerto. The first performance received mixed reviews and led to extensive revision of the score. It was only when Jascha Heifetz started to perform the concerto regularly in the 1930s that it gained its place in the standard repertoire. Although there was no second concerto, Sibelius’s numerous other works for violin and orchestra are no mere miniatures, as the recordings on this album amply demonstrate.