One day in England in the autumn of 1898, Edward Elgar sat down at his piano and began improvising on a simple theme that began with the rhythmic shape of his own name. Soon, encouraged by his wife Alice, Elgar began to adapt the theme to fit the personalities of his closest friends and colleagues. By February the following year, Elgar had finished what many consider to be his masterpiece. The Enigma Variations, a set of fourteen portraits of companions beginning with Alice and ending with Elgar himself, is a work of astonishing craftsmanship, invention, expressive range and emotional power.

Sensational conductor Maxim Emelyanichev leads this performance of Elgar’s thrilling and touching score, after the first Nordic performance of Jay Capperauld’s Bruckner’s Skull – a ‘fascinating piece’ (Broadway World) that dares to stare death in the face – and Lalo’s Violin Concerto in all but name, his Symphonie Espagnole. Christian Tetzlaff is the soloist in the piece that might not be definably Spanish, but is full of the melodic freshness and instrumental colour you’d associate with the country.