J. Brahms | Violin concerto op. 77 - Allegro ma non troppo (1878)
 
Brahms’ violin concerto is one of the greatest and most difficult violin concertos ever written, deservedly included in the so called “Big 5” together with those of Beethoven, Bruch, Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn’s. As virtuosic as a Paganini’s Capriccio and as musically complex as a Beethoven’s symphony, this masterpiece was composed with the extensive support of Joseph Joachim - Brahms’ dear friend and renowned violinist - who had a long and productive epistolary exchange with the composer on violin technicalities and premiered it in 1879. The first movement is a perfectly balanced synthesis of two souls of the 19th century music: a solemn, brilliant, and overwhelming symphonic frame over which the violin solo weaves exquisitely gentle and introspective melodic lines, which however never fall in sentimentalism for its own sake.