Alpine journeys

Some listeners have described Bruckner’s symphonies as cathedrals in sound, and it’s true, there’s no denying either their majesty or their intensely spiritual beauty. But the voice of nature sings throughout them, too, and in his Third Symphony – Bruckner’s homage to his hero Wagner – he creates nothing less than a whole Alpine landscape in sound. Fittingly, Vladimir Jurowski has paired Bruckner with another masterpiece from the mountains. Brahms wrote his Violin Concerto while on a summer holiday in the Austrian Alps – and you can definitely tell. Few living violinists make it sing (and dance) quite like Janine Jansen.