2 Sem 2015 - Part One

Hélène Grimaud
Brahms Concertos - 2 Cd's



By Martin Buzacott/Limelight
You’ll read reviews of this CD where itinerant and half-hearted Brahmsians will tell you that the tempi taken by conductor Andris Nelsons and soloist Helene Grimaud in this utterly remarkable, inspired and inspiring recording of the two Brahms piano concertos are too slow and leaden. You must not believe them. Just as true Brahmsians appreciate the glacial tempi of the symphonies in Celibidache’s legendary complete set, so here Nelson’s slower pace is all about unfolding the Brahms universe with its profound richness of detail and astonishing warmth of tone. There are so many recordings of Brahms First Piano Concerto, but few could be classified as Desert Island Discs and in fact many are downright disappointing. Well this performance of it recorded live in Munich changes all of that, and if by the end your legs are still able to support the weight of your body, assume that Brahms just isn’t really your thing. From that first opening orchestral chord, surely the most arresting ever captured on disc, Nelsons announces the epic scope of the enterprise ahead. Just three seconds in and your breath’s been taken away, and from there, he and remarkable Frenchwoman Grimaud are like two Alices in the Brahmsian Wonderland, each glorious new entry, whether in the piano itself, on the horn, or especially in the lower strings, unfolding at a tempo beyond human agency, like the clear dawn emerging after a storm, dazzling the senses in the process. Grimaud’s drama-charged, percussive style, eschews sentimentality but remains passionate nonetheless, filled with an emotion generated from within the music itself, the performers simply a part of a much larger whole. This is Brahms in 3D, everything standing up and being counted, almost as if it has some sort of moral presence all its own, gorgeously captured by the DG engineers in this textbook example of live recording. And then, after two movements of vastly intelligent, intense colour and drama, the finale of the First enters, now transformed into breakneck pace, but never losing its shape or focus as Grimaud, noted for her technical prowess, simply rips the thing apart. The Second Concerto doesn’t have quite the same inherent drama, but here it gets treatment as the First, with a different orchestra but the same injection of momentum with each new musical incident. Some people may mark this recording down a star because of Grimaud’s noticeably heavy breathing throughout, but many more, and definitely males, will give the allure-advantaged soloist bonus points for the very same reason. My God, what a disc.


Hélène Grimaud & Sol Gabetta
Duo


By RBSProds
An inspiring, enjoyable, powerhouse meeting between two award-winning highly-individualistic classical music superstars who consider their initial meeting as fateful, not coincidence. Hélène Grimaud (who is called "the earth" in their interview), one of the greatest interpretative classical pianists who experiences sound as colors, and star cello virtuoso Sol Gabetta ("the air"), famed for the nuanced, singing quality of her instrumental interpretations and her highly emotional playing, meld their 'earth and air' talents and personae into a marvelous musical duo. It began in 2011 in a joyful, fateful musical encounter that 'clicked' immediately. In a wide spectrum of musical tastes, they cover the duo compositions of Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Claude Debussy, and Dmitri Shostakovich, and this diverse program works wonderfully and has toured to great success. All performances are excellent and the 'best of the best' begins with the 'storm to calm' of the 'Finale' of Debussy's Sonata for Violoncello and Piano in D Minor; the awesome beauty and virtuosity of the spellbinding 12 minute Shostakovich Allegro non troppo from the Sonata for Violoncello and Piano in D minor, Opus 40; the fiery third movement of Schumann's 'Drei Fantasiestücke' (Three Fantasies), Opus 73 and the overpowering beauty of the familiar 14 minute Allegro non troppo and the 6 minute Allegro-Più presto movements of Brahms Sonata for Piano and Violoncello No 1 in E minor, Opus 38. Awesome Grammy-nominated performances by two great artists who form a dynamic duo of singular musical purpose. My Highest Recommendation! Five BRILLIANT Stars! (13 tracks; Time 73 minutes, 45 seconds. Booklet notes in English, German, and French. 

- This recording won the 2013 ECHO Klassic award as the Chamber Music Recording of the Year in the 19th Century Music (Mixed Ensemble category).

1 Sem 2015 - Part One

Joshua Bell & Academy Of St Martin In The Fields

Bach



By James Manheim
Reactions to this release may well depend on how listeners feel about violinist Joshua Bell's music-making in general. Bell is an heir to the violin idols of the early 20th century, and he grabs attention and doesn't let it go: his tone is startlingly brilliant, his execution flawless, his insights into the music generally well-worn ones. In the two Bach violin concertos that make up the bulk of this Sony release, that's what's here, and he is ideally partnered by the champions in the silvery-strings derby, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, under his own direction. He holds the ensemble together with a naturalness that takes the whole enterprise beyond the old-fashioned. But there is a new wrinkle to this release: a pair of arrangements of arrangements. Most daring, and perhaps less successful, is an orchestration of Mendelssohn's version of the Chaconne from the Partita No. 2 for solo violin in D minor, BWV 1004. Bell's idea seems to be that this is something his forerunners of a century ago might have done, and indeed the Mendelssohn arrangement is a work that gives insights into how he and his time experienced Bach. Adding the orchestra to it introduces another level of noise, however, and it's not at all clear that the result is to the good. The situation is similar with the little Gavotte and Rondeau twice filtered through Schumann and the same arranger as with the Mendelssohn, Julian Malone. None of this is going to bother listeners coming to this album already enamored of Bell's flashing tone, however, and it must be said that on that terrain he is in unusually good form here.

By Eric C. Sedensky "late-to-jazz musician"
By now, most music fans and probably all of Joshua Bell's fans will be familiar with the story of how, on a very cold morning in January 2007, Joshua Bell disguised himself as a street musician at a metro station in Washington D.C. during rush hour and played some classical music pieces for about 45 minutes. Included therein was a piece that many consider to be the most beautiful and complicated violin piece in history: Bach's Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D Minor. He played his heart out on this difficult piece with his multimillion Stradivarius violin, but even this proved ineffective in getting the busy people of our nation's capital to slow down long enough to listen and enjoy.
It's a compelling story and statement, but more amazing to me as a Joshua Bell fan is that despite Mr. Bell's love of Bach's music, his occasional live performances of Bach sonatas and the sensational stunt at the metro station, he has never recorded Bach in the past. (That's not counting the Bach inventions #7 and #15 he did with Bela Fleck on Perpetual Motion.) Probably, just like he spent some time looking for the perfect orchestra he could comfortably play with before recording Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, he must have decided to take his time before recording the Bach pieces. Now being the busy director and conductor of the prestigious British chamber orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, there was probably no reason to wait any longer to record some Bach.
As a former church organist who learned Bach before just about everything else, I feel I at least have an inkling of shared feeling with Mr. Bell when he said (in Michael Lawrence's film Bach & Friends) that "Bach's music makes you feel alive and it tells you about life and about the world in a way that nothing else can. Bach manages to take you through the entire range of human emotion..." That's a mouthful, but incredibly, it was this feeling that comes through in Mr. Bell's powerful performances on this CD. And as good as Mr. Bell is with his violin, let's keep in mind two more things. One is that he is being backed by one of the great contemporary orchestras, the aforementioned Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Their depth of emotion is startling, and the clarity and overall execution of the music to sound as the composer intended puts them on a par with any orchestra anywhere. The second thing to keep in mind is, Mr. Bell also happens to be the conductor of the orchestra, so if anybody would have been able to get the pacing, feel, and flow of the orchestra to match his own vision, it would be him. In the end, all of the tracks sound refreshingly brilliant and show off Mr. Bell's ringing and swirling violin, the orchestra's limitless breadth, and the subtleties, emotions, and triumphs of Bach's music, all in one delightful and imminently listenable package.
Speaking of which, let me just point out, too, that the CD's production is quite crisp, keeping all the movements and pieces lush but even from track to track. The sound mastering and balance is flawless as well, with soft and slow sections leading into and out of the loud and fast sections, and vice versa, in a flowing waltz of quiet and force, majesty and humility, and everything in between. And what can I say about the tough look on the cover photo, a black and white "back at `cha" shot, other than, it's about time Mr. Bell shoved aside his choir boy image and used his good looks to demand attention and focus. (Maybe now that he's spent enough time in England he's gotten a little James Bond-ian on us?) The cover shot is augmented by black and white silhouette photos throughout the booklet and back cover. The overall effect is powerful, and I feel it will go a long way toward attracting people to the musical side and helping this recording gain the respect and attention it deserves.
Joshua Bell rarely (the missus would say "never") puts out a bad recording, but when it comes time to choose a favorite, I think these Bach renditions will be at the top of a lot of fans' lists. Five stars almost seem inadequate, but that's as high as it goes, so that's what this fantastic and imaginative CD gets.


Alisa Weilerstein & Daniel Barenboim

Elgar Cello Concerto Carter 



By Blair Sanderson
Making her debut on Decca, Alisa Weilerstein presents three major works of the cello repertoire with Daniel Barenboim leading the Staatskapelle Berlin. The star vehicle, naturally, is Edward Elgar's Concerto in E minor, which Weilerstein plays with commanding presence, rich tone, and emotional depth. Most listeners will be drawn primarily to this performance because of the piece's familiarity, and Weilerstein's charisma and passionate playing make it the album's main attraction. Yet listeners should give Weilerstein and Barenboim credit for following the Elgar with an important if not instantly recognizable or approachable modernist work, Elliott Carter's powerful Cello Concerto. Weilerstein is quite bold to play this intensely dramatic and angular composition, and while it's unlikely to appeal to the majority of fans who adore the Elgar, it deserves its place on the program for its seriousness and extraordinary displays of solo and orchestral writing. To close, Weilerstein plays Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei, a Romantic work that returns the program to a mellow and melancholy mood and brings the CD to a satisfying close. Decca's reproduction is excellent, putting Weilerstein front and center with full resonance, but not leaving the vibrant accompaniment of the orchestra too far behind her.

By Andrew R. Barnard 
Decca wants to turn its debut of Alisa Weilerstein into an occasion. No one has been able to erase memories of Jacqueline du Pre in the Elgar Cello Concerto; no doubt performers feel intimidated. The dominance of du Pre is realized when Amazon's editorial review tries to hype this recording by pointing out that du Pre's husband Daniel Barenboim hasn't touched the piece much without his wife. Could it be that a bit of the du Pre magic has continued with Barenboim?
The problem, of course, is that the magic was never Barenboim's. Weilerstein is left with the same mountain to climb as the rest of du Pre's successors. For Weilerstein, the best way to compete with du Pre is to try a completely different approach. Du Pre pushed forward with searing passion, baring her soul with no attempt to mask her feelings. While Weilerstein showcases Elgarian richness and melancholy, she is considerably more reserved. On the podium, Barenboim places less stress on grandeur, aiming to emphasize the work's dark undercurrent. He makes the Staatskapelle Berlin play from the bottom up. Both conductor and soloist seem to agree that reticence has its place. While they make the concerto have darker hues, the whole event ends up sounding less personal, sometimes mannered. There's little overt excitement. This hurts the 2nd movement the most, as Barenboim unwisely chooses to smooth out the sudden surprises near the opening, erasing all hushed anticipation. The rest of the concerto fares better, thankfully, with both interpreters seeming to understand Elgar's world. (There's not much restlessness, and melancholy doesn't become impatience). While there is much to admire about this recording, I miss the final thrust of inspiration. We hear personality, to be sure, but I feel that the music is being played from a distance, with Weilerstein admiring the concerto instead of completely taking over.
The Carter Concerto is new to me. It's an aggressive work with none of the beauty of the Elgar. For all I can tell, this is a fine reading. I'm sure its fans will be pleased to see it recorded by big names on a major label. If you're willing to get into the austere work, this interpretation beckons, particularly because of the wonderful sound. Weilerstein's tone is dark and biting, as if seeking to find meaning in the midst of chaos. Barenboim's conducting is full of sarcasm, allowing the work's forward-looking scoring (there's significant percussion) to come across clearly.
Weilerstein and Barenboim take Bruch's Kol Nidrei with much darkness, giving it a lonely feel. I appreciate the commitment, even though it can sound idiosyncratic. Again, excitement isn't a big concern, but it's hard to complain in the face of such lovely playing.
For Weilerstein, then, this is a success. These are interesting readings in very good sound. Weilerstein doesn't erase memories of Du Pre, but to be fair, no one has. She does prove, along with sensitive Barenboim, that there are alternative ways to success in the Elgar.
P.S. January 2014: Having just posted a review of Weilerstein's new Dvorak release, I must say that I am now a complete believer in Weilerstein, and find my initial hesitations about this album intangible. I hope to soon get around to fully editing this review.

2 Sem 2014 - Part Six

Emerson String Quartet

Journeys



By James Manheim
The Emerson String Quartet formed in 1976 and kept the same personnel for more than 30 years. Journeys marks its final release with original cellist David Finckel, who has departed to pursue other projects (notably duo concerts with his wife, pianist Wu Han). It thus represents a turning point of sorts, and it is good to see that the group has not been content with simply recrossing safe territory but has delivered something innovative, both within its own catalog and in the general chamber music marketplace. The Emerson Quartet's repertory has rested solidly in the Haydn/Beethoven/Brahms mainstream. The group has rarely recorded Tchaikovsky, and Schoenberg never until this release. Journeys contains both, in the form of two sextets, Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence and Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht. (The Emerson Quartet is joined by violist Paul Neubauer and cellist Colin Carr.) The two works were written within ten years of each other, but they were at opposite extremes of the music of the period in their handling of tonality, and a conventional outlook would hold that they could hardly be more different. Yet the players seem to be suggesting that composers can't fully escape the spirit of the times in which they live, and that in fact, the two works have much in common. Both were written for the combination of two violins, two violas, and two cellos. Both, as the album title suggests, depict journeys, Tchaikovsky's physical, Schoenberg's psychological. And there is a certain emotionally overheated quality that spills through the neat classic forms of the Souvenir de Florence and links it to the more radical world of Schoenberg. The performances seem to stress the connection, with an unusually nervous Tchaikovsky that stresses the dissonances and a warmly Romantic Schoenberg. You may be able to find performances that bring out the basic traits of each work more effectively, but it's safe to say that they haven't been put together in this way. A bold move from some veteran musicians.


Martha Argerich & Claudio Abbado

Orchestra Mozart



By Geoffrey Norris
Mozart: Piano Concertos in C Major K 503 & D Minor K 466, Martha Argerich (piano), Orchestra Mozart, cond Claudio Abbado, DG 479 1033

Back in the Sixties, the first recording that Claudio Abbado made for Deutsche Grammophon happened to be with Martha Argerich in Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto and Ravel's G Major. It is somehow fitting, then, and certainly poignant, that following Abbado's death last month DG should now release this coupling of two Mozart concertos, again with Argerich as soloist. They were recorded during the Lucerne Festival of 2013.
That early Prokofiev/Ravel disc was made with the Berlin Philharmonic and is still available on DG Originals (447 4382). In more recent times, however, Abbado took particular pleasure in working with hand-picked ensembles such as the Orchestra Mozart, founded in Bologna in 2004. This proved a fascinatingly fertile collaboration, producing discs not only of Mozart but also of Bach, Beethoven and Berg and, last year, a remarkable one of Schumann overtures and the Symphony No 2 (479 1061), Abbado's first recording of a Schumann symphony.
Mozart was in Abbado's very DNA, a fact that is highlighted here in the elegance, élan and well-harnessed energy in his moulding of the orchestral parts of these two keyboard concertos. The artistic partnership with Argerich is an intimate, seasoned and spirited one: the way in which her delicate fingerwork in the slow movement of the C Major Concerto is so perfectly coordinated with the woodwind instruments is just one example of how the orchestra, soloist and conductor are in complete, responsive harmony.
But on the broader front, too, this is a performance where everything works instinctively. Argerich, as always, is a characterful, spontaneous soloist but, as is equally typical of her winning manner of playing, she is thoroughly attuned to the music's scale and stylistic niceties. With Abbado as a constant source of sensitivity as regards balance and instrumental colour, this is an interpretation that is in every sense live and, with excellent engineering of sound, has a compelling immediacy of presence.
The atmosphere of tension and apprehension that Abbado triggers at the start of the D Minor Concerto fuels a viscerally exciting, aptly disquieting performance of the first movement, its emotions in flux, Argerich complementing Abbado in tempering darkness with light. She launches the finale as a true Allegro assai, but it is fit, healthy and lithe rather than in any way breathless. These are performances in which vital sparks generate palpable electricity.

2 Sem 2014 - Part Five

Nelson Freire
The Complete Columbia Album Collection - 7 CDs

By Presto Classic
Called “one of the most exciting new pianists of this or any other age” in Time magazine, Nelson Freire celebrates his seventieth birthday on October 18th 2014. Sony Classical marks this milestone with a special original jacket collection. It contains some of the Brazilian pianist’s earliest and most coveted recorded performances, many of which have been out of print for decades. These include four celebrated concerto collaborations with the legendary conductor Rudolf Kempe, the “Prix Edison” award winning Chopin op. 28 Préludes, and large-scale sonatas by Chopin, Liszt and Brahms. Newly remastered from the best possible sources, the discs are presented in facsimile sleeves and labels corresponding to the original LP releases. 3 LPs appear here for the first time on CD, mastered from the original analogue tapes.
An enclosed booklet offers an essay by Jed Distler, a photographic retrospective, and full discographical information. Born in Boa Esperança, Brazil, Nelson Freire played his first recital at four. At fourteen he traveled to Vienna to study with Bruno Seidlhofer, and met his longtime friend and piano duo partner Martha Argerich. He began to concertize internationally, winning the first prize at the Lisbon Vianna da Motta International Competition in 1964 and the Dinu Lipatti medal in London. The list of world class orchestras and conductors with whom Freire has worked over the past four decades is a veritable who’s who of classical music luminaries.

Tracks:
Brahms:
Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5
Rhapsody in E flat major, Op. 119 No. 4
Capriccio in B minor, Op. 76 No. 2
Chopin:
Preludes (24), Op. 28
Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58
Impromptu No. 4 in C sharp minor, Op. 66 'Fantaisie-Impromptu'
Mazurka No. 25 in B minor, Op. 33 No. 4
Mazurka No. 23 in D major, Op. 33 No. 2
Mazurka No. 26 in C sharp minor, Op. 41 No. 1
Polonaise No. 6 in A flat major, Op. 53 'Héroïque'
Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31
Nocturne No. 5 in F sharp major, Op. 15 No. 2
Waltz No. 6 in D flat major, Op. 64 No. 1 'Minute Waltz'
Impromptu No. 2 in F sharp major, Op. 36
Étude Op. 10 No. 5 in G flat major 'Black Key'
Grieg:
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16
Liszt:
Totentanz, S126 for piano & orchestra
Piano Sonata in B minor, S178
Schubert:
4 Impromptus, D899
Schumann:
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
Carnaval, Op. 9
Tchaikovsky:
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23

Christopher Hogwood 1941 - 2014

By Gramophone
It has been announced that the conductor Christopher Hogwood has died at the age of 73. The official announcement on Hogwood's website reads,'Following an illness lasting several months, Christopher died peacefully on Wednesday 24 September, a fortnight after his 73rd birthday. He was at home in Cambridge, with family present. The funeral will be private, with a memorial service to be held at a later date.
Hogwood's Mozart symphony-cycle with the Academy of Ancient Music, which began in the late 1970s, won a Gramophone Award and changed the perception of period-instrument performance. Hogwood founded the Early Music Consort in 1967 with David Munrow, and the Academy of Ancient Music in 1973. He was awarded a CBE in 1989.
When Hogwood was interviewed by Gramophone in 2002 he looked back to the roots of Historically Informed Performance: 'I'm a Handel and Haydn man. But that's not where it all began. I'd come from playing medieval music with David Munrow. It was completely speculative, a sort of inspired circus, putting on a host of colourful works to entertain, very well run on the concert platform. But there were a number of worrying things about it; one was the impression it gave the world that most medieval music consisted of instrumental, secular music when 98 per cent was religious, sacred vocal music. And the other one was that there is so little surviving evidence of what really went on, what it actually sounded like.' So began an unforgettable musical journey.

2 Sem 2014 - Part Four

Valentina Lisitsa
Chasing Pianos - The Piano Music Of Michael Nyman



By James Manheim
Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa has taken an unusual path toward career development: she posted her Chopin performances to YouTube, gained a strong following there, and then hired the London Symphony Orchestra for a set of Rachmaninov concerto performances. The gambit seems to be working: Lisitsa's performances of late Romantic repertoire have been reasonably well received, and now she's earned the right to implement what one imagines was the point of the whole exercise in the first place: the pursuit of the crossover audience centered above all in Britain. There is no denying that Chasing Pianos works well. British composer Michael Nyman has made a long specialty out of minimalist music that shades in the direction of melodic pop. Although Nyman has stated that opera is his favored genre, the style is ideally suited to film scores, and his music for The Piano (1993) is a classic of the genre. That score, adapted for solo piano, is heavily featured here, along with music from other scores that is artfully chosen to give just enough contrast to avoid sheer repetitiveness without disturbing the basic calm surface. Lisitsa's style, flawlessly precise and slightly mechanical, fits this music in a rather eerie way, and fans of Nyman's music will doubtless find a fresh and exciting take on it here. Those coming to the music from the film The Piano or from one of the other soundtracks represented should also be pleased. The sound, from the concert hall at Britain's Wyastone Estate, is unusually well suited to the project: dreamy and soft without being overly gauzy.


By Classic FM
The Ukranian YouTube sensation plays the piano music of Michael Nyman. John Suchet's Album of the Week, 17 March 2014.
Valentina Lisitsa 's videos have been viewed on YouTube more than 50 million times. The Ukranian pianist has always admitted to having a special affinity for the works of Rachmaninov and Beethoven and continues to add to her vast repertoire each season. Her new album sees her exploring the piano music of Michael Nyman , on the occasion of his 70th birthday.
The album includes all ten solo piano transcriptions from the smash hit film The Piano , collected together on one album for the first time, along with complete recordings of his published music for solo piano.
Lisitsa plays with great sensitivity and fluidity and succeeds in bringing together a valuable collection of some of the most haunting and appealing piano music of our time.

2 Sem 2014 - Part Three

Ray Chen & Christoph Eschenbach
Mozart



By James Manheim
Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216, and Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K. 218, are so commonly heard and abundantly available on recordings that one may suspect a major reason for this Sony Classical release was that Taiwanese-Australian-American violinist Ray Chen and conductor Christoph Eschenbach are quite photogenic in the "cover image styled by Armani," as the credit has it. Indeed, Chen is all youthful elegance, and Eschenbach comes out looking a bit like Jean-Luc Picard. But don't hate them because they're beautiful. The performances come out distinctly above average, with a fresh take in which Chen avoids pouring on the standard sweetness for these works. The playing reveals a good deal of planning and cooperation between Chen and Eschenbach, who leads the rather oversized Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra, and the inclusion of the Sonata for piano and violin in A major, K. 305, at the end seems not an afterthought but a fully integrated part of the recital. The star of the show is Chen, whose consistently lively, imaginative detail work is enhanced by his own cadenzas. The church sound amplifies the excessive size of some of the orchestral sound, but he is undoubtedly an artist to watch even in a marketplace crowded with telegenic young violinists.


By John J. Puccio - Classical Candor
Chen starts the program with the Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216, which Mozart wrote along with all five of his violin concertos in Salzburg in 1775 when he was only nineteen years old. Mozart was more of a piano guy, so he didn’t take the violin concerto very far before he died. Nevertheless, because he died relatively young, who knows what he may have done with the genre had he lived another thirty or forty years. In any case, No. 3 is fairly typical of the form, with an Allegro, an Adagio, and a closing Rondeau Allegro. It is not particularly adventurous, but it is Mozart, which means it’s always charming. Besides, despite Mozart’s age when he composed these things, he was a prodigy, a musical genius who had been composing since his early childhood. In terms of their development and maturity, therefore, the violin concertos are more like the work of a man twice Mozart’s years.
Chen seems more in tune with the lyrical qualities of Mozart than he was in a previous recording I reviewed of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, where he seemed more relaxed than dramatic or exciting. In both instances, though, Chen shows a terrific command of the instrument, his virtuosity never in question. But in the present Mozart, his perhaps natural penchant for understatement serves the music pretty well. Chen maintains a light touch on the strings, helping the concerto to bounce along with plenty of vim and vigor, yet not so fast that it loses any delicacy. I still don't think he throws himself into the music with the passion and enthusiasm of Anne-Sophie Mutter, but he does display a good range of emotions. There is an especially deep sense of pathos in the Adagio, where Chen seems most at home. There is also a delightful spirit to the final movement, where Chen's lyrical treatment of the faster sections elevates it above the ordinary.
Probably the single most outstanding characteristic of all the music on the album, though, is the sound of Chen's violin, a 1702 Stradivarius, the "Lord Newlands." It has a rich, fresh, effervescent tone that combined with Chen's fluid playing is quite easy to like. Or love, as the case may be.
The Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K. 218 is in the same fast-slow-fast structure as No. 3: Allegro, Andante cantabile, and Rondeau (Andante grazioso - Allegro ma non troppo). Despite its classical structure, the Fourth Concerto is more romantic and sinuous than the Third, and Chen makes the most of it. The Fourth may also be more familiar to listeners than the Third, which means listeners may have more predetermined conceptions about it. In any case, Chen retains the better part of the work's wit and sparkle, keeping the often capricious music flowing evenly. Still, I missed the degree of impetuosity found in some competing versions, leading me again to appreciate Chen's handling of the concerto's slow movement more than his work in the outer movements, as good as they are.
Now, call me an old fuddy-duddy (OK, you're an old fuddy-duddy), but I enjoyed the accompanying Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 22 in A major, K 305 best of all on the program. Here, Chen again shares the spotlight with Mr. Eschenbach, this time with Eschenbach on piano. Although this is primarily Chen's album, the Sonata rather favors the piano as much as the violin, particularly in the longer second movement. Even though the engineers appear to do what they can to emphasize the violin, Eschenbach's piano part is really what carries the piece. Be what may, the two performers together create a sweet, cheerful, bubbly concoction that foreshadows the work of Schubert a few years later.
The sound is ultra clear and clean due in part, I'm sure, to some relatively close miking. The clarity comes at the expense of some orchestral depth in the concertos, but for many listeners it might be a fair trade-off. The violin tone sounds natural enough, with a pleasant bloom on the strings, and the whole affair is reasonably smooth as well, with only the tiniest evidence of hardness on occasion.