Anyone who prefers not to ponder the stages of a warrior's life set to music or even make an autobiographical connection with Mr. Strauss' life during a performance of Richard Strauss' “Heldenleben” can instead concentrate on what the members of the huge Konzerthausorchester under the direction of Thomas Sondergard are doing musically - this is always worthwhile with Richard Strauss and his orchestration skills.

The heroine of the great, highly virtuoso and only violin concerto by Johannes Brahms is definitely violinist Veronika Eberle. Conducted by Brahms himself, it was successfully premiered with soloist Joseph Joachim in the Leipzig Gewandhaus on New Year's Day 1879. As is so often the case, the musical community was eloquently divided about the structure and difficulty of the work. It remains extremely demanding to play, but its characterization as a concerto not for but “against the violin” (conductor Hans von Bülow) has long since been revised.