BBC Symphony Orchestra/Stasevska by Anderson, Julian, Sibelius, Grime, H., Od (2020/2020), Dirigent Dalia Stasevska, Barbican Centre, London, United Kingdom

Before the fire and ice of Sibelius’s striking First Symphony, Lelia Josefowicz and Dalia Stasevska bring us the UK premiere of Helen Grime’s virtuosic and dreamlike Violin Concert. Helen Grime set out to pitch wild abandon against tender sensitivity when writing her Violin Concerto and few violinists deliver those qualities like Leila Josefowicz, who returns to the Orchestra for the UK premiere of Grime’s virtuosic, dreamlike concerto in one movement. Before it, BBC SO Principal Guest Conductor Dalia Stasevska conducts Julian Andersen’s glittering nightscape Incantesimi and ends with music from her own country: the searing combination of fire and ice that is Sibelius’s First Symphony.