At 13, she fell in love, star violinist Alena Baeva told me in an interview. 'Suddenly I didn't just find music beautiful, I fell in love, and with one piece.' That was music by Brahms. Two years later, she played his Violin Concerto. 'Because I learnt it so young, it's in my body. I feel free when I play it.' Brahms' Violin Concerto had a difficult start in 1879. A concerto against the violin was said. But not with Alena Baeva. She gives this masterpiece wings, from the heaven-defying opening to the dancing finale. Even more wings and winged stories in Stravinsky's Song of the Nightingale - after Andersen's fairytale - and the exciting Firebird.
