NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Pietari Inkinen

»This is my first attempt,« Robert Schumann warned famous violinist Joseph Joachim in 1853 when he handed him his »Fantasie« Op. 131. He had written it upon request from the 22-year-old friend who would later ask many other 19th century composers to write legendary violin pieces for him. Schumann followed his »Fantasie« with a full-scale violin concerto in d minor within a month. Both works are considered too difficult to understand today: they are regarded as late works by a mad genius. They have, more or less, disappeared from concert programmes. Unjustly, as Frank Peter Zimmermann wants to demonstrate. He presents both Schumann pieces together with another rarity: Hindemith’s »Chamber Music No. 4«, which is a disguised violin concerto. The new music director of the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie, Pietari Inkinen, will also conduct the happy and very successful »first attempt« at a symphony by his fellow country man, Jean Sibelius, in the second part of the concert.