"Sibelius’s Violin Concerto has a quite unconventional opening – feeling pained, challenged, even. Soloist Jack Liebeck, making a welcome return to Liverpool, was impressive. The opening movement was full of impassioned playing, a sense of longing never far away, and boundless resources of energy always there.

The adagio was no less impassioned with dynamic chromatic rises adding drama with that hint Wagner, especially in the harmonic language. Liebeck produced a fine allegro finale, a moto perpetuo where that energetic drive was always evident.

His encore – the sarabande from Bach’s Second Partita for solo violin in D minor – was a sombre affair, bringing the burst of Finnish energy to a juddering halt, but none the less inviting for that."