Wooow! This has been my favourite concert so far this year! I remember when I first heard Brahms’ violin concerto, I was like, it’s nice. But then the more I listened to it the more it grew on me and got stuck in my head quite often too.

And my goodness, seeing it performed in real life is nothing like hearing a recording on trashy computer speakers! There is so much more definition when the entire orchestra is in front of you! And so many things I didn’t know – I am actually so bad at explaining this but in the third movement, I didn’t realise there was a bit where the first violins actually don’t play a few notes that I thought they did! They alternated with another section but I was totally clueless haha.

The other thing about having listened to it only when doing other things was that I had no idea there was a cadenza and I was like, where is this? Am I supposed to know what this part is?

I really need to keep listening and studying so that I actually understand what’s going on!