NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider / Alan Gilbert

Full range of colours

He possesses »perhaps one of the most exquisite violin tones ever captured on CD«. At least according to the experts at stringed-instrument magazine The Strad. Danish violinist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider has been causing a ripple on the music scene for a long time, and in recent years he has added another feather to his cap with an impressive conducting career. But on his return to the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, he leaves the »big paintbrush«, as he puts it, to chief conductor Alan Gilbert, preferring to wield a »much smaller brush« as the soloist in the Sibelius Violin Concerto. If we stick to the metaphor, he will need mostly different shades of forest green for the Finnish composer’s work, plus a little aquamarine, some black and grey and a few squirts of white. Ideally, the full range of colours!