Compared to Niccolò Paganini by friend Robert Schumann, Henri Vieuxtemps (1820-1881) was a well-known virtuoso violinist of  the Franco-Belgian violin school in the mid-19th century.  Aspiring towards becoming a composer also, most of his output was for the violin, and his seven violin concerti remain the reason he is generally known to audiences and musicians around the world still  today.  Though a virtuoso himself, his violin writing never indulged in sheer virtuosity for its own sake, and he quoted as having said, “Not runs for the sake of runs - sing, sing!”

 

His Concerto No. 4 in D minor, written around 1850 while serving in St. Petersburg for a period of five years as Czar Nicholas I's solo violinist, was Vieutemps favorite of the seven concerti.  A grandly imposing work in four movements, it shows the composer's ability to not only write exciting string music but also to invent melodies of sensuous warmth.