DESCRIPTION:
Recorded in 1943. Armas Järnefelt (Sibelius' brother-in-law) conducts
Städtisches Orkester Berlin.

Anja Ignatius performed the Sibelius concerto more than one hundred times in less than forty-five years.

Sibelius wrote his Concerto in 1903, with the German soloist Willy Burmester in mind, but owing to the composer's impatience, it had only a half-hearted premiere with Viktor Novacek as soloist in Helsinki early in 1904. Sibelius then revised it, and a second premiere took place in Berlin in 1905 with another Czech, Karel Halir playing the solo part. It still did not make headway. Not until the 19 year-old Anja Ignatius played it in Helsinki in 1930, to acclaim, did it find a Finnish champion. She was her country's first great violinist but, owing to the Second World War, and the demands of family life, she never achieved the international fame which was her due. "My mother was often a guest at Ainola, and received from the composer some valuable performance suggestions concerning the Violin Concerto, as well as the two Serenades, which she later performed in many places," says her daughter Eeva Hirvensalo.


Anja Ignatius (Jul.. 2, 1911, Tampere - Apr, 10, 1995), violinist, highly regarded as a chamber musician and as an interpreter of Sibelius's Violin Concerto,

Anja Ignatius began violin studies at the age of five and at the age of fifteen gave her first concert, which included the Bruch G Minor Concerto and the Vitali Chaconne, Besides her studies in Finland with Axel Versterlind, Ilmari Weneskoski, and Gcnnaro Romano, she studied at the Paris Conservatory and in Prague with Otakar Ševčík. In 1928, at the age of seventeen, she performed a Paganini concerto with the Helsinki Orchestra, directed by Robert Kajanus. In the autumn of 1929, after a performance in Stockholm. Bruno Walter suggested that she study with Carl Flesch in Berlin, which she did between 1929 and 1931, In addition to many concerts in Finland, she also performed in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, France, Poland, the Soviet Union, and the United Slates, including Boston in 1938 with Serge Koussevitzky. She was especially known for her interpretation of the Sibelius Violin Concerto, which she recorded in. 1943 in Berlin, with Armas Järnefelt conducting. Her repertoire included over thirty violin concertos.

Anja Ignatius played first violin in the Helsinki Quartet from 1953 to 1961 and from 1961 to 1965 in the trio which evolved from the quanet, including Pentti Rautavaara, cellist, and France Ellegaard, piano. In 1955 she became a professsor of violin at the Sibelius Academy. She served on the juries of many competitions, including the Sibelius Violin Competitions of 1965 and 1970, the Scandinavian String Players Competition in 1969, the Kuopio Violin Contest in 1970, and the International Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznan in 1972.


Edvard Armas Järnefelt (August 14, 1869 -- June 23, 1958), was a Finnish composer and conductor.

Armas Järnefelt was born in Vyborg, in the Grand Duchy of Finland, the son of general August Aleksander Järnefelt and Elisabeth Järnefelt (née Clodt von Jürgensburg). His siblings were Kasper, Arvid, Erik, Ellida, Ellen, Aino, Hilja and Sigrid. Armas Järnefelt was the first Finnish composer to conduct Richard Wagner's operas in Finland. He achieved some minor success with his orchestral works Berceuse and Praeludium.

Järnefelt's music teacher in Helsinki was Ferruccio Busoni and in Paris, Jules Massenet. He enjoyed a close relationship with Jean Sibelius, who was married to Järnefelt's sister Aino. From 1905 Armas Järnefelt worked in Sweden. He became a Swedish citizen in 1909, and died in Stockholm.

On June first 2012 a display of AJ paraphernalia was opened in the entrance of the Sibelius Academy situated in Helsinki Music Center.