Sibelius- Evening in the Spring Op 117 (1929)
Peter Sheppard Skaerved-Solo Violin/director
I Solisti di Zagreb
Lisinski Great Hall. 11th May 2002

I was introduced to Sibelius’s miniatures for violin and orchestra when I was a teenager, by my teacher and friend, Ralph Holmes. He recorded a pioneering disc of these works with the RIAS orchestra in Berlin under Vernon Handley. I have never forgotten going for a violin lesson at his house in Beckenham, and he had just received the first edit, which he played me on his reel-to-reel. The sound haunted me. When Edward Clarke, who later encouraged me to play all of the Sibelius Quartets and the Quintet, gave me a copy of Sibelius’s Op 117, it was the memory of Ralph Holmes, glowing at the discovery of these then little known works, and the sheer humanity of his violin playing, that was in my mind. This music is truthful beauty. (19-7-2011)

Peter with i solisti di Zagreb-Dubrovnik Festival