Brahms - Violin Concerto [Chung/ Rattle-Wiener Philharmoniker]Here's a great pairing, Kyung-Wha Chung and Simon Rattle, i like this recording, usually you have two Violin Concertos on a disc, but to have a Violin Concerto and a Symphony is strange, especially if it's two different Composers, but for me it works, i think that things should be programmed more like this, it actually feels more like a concert, where you have a greater variety.
The Brahms Concerto is a real rugged workhorse, lots of technical demands are placed on the soloist, plus Brahms's Concertos always have the tendency to be very Symphonic, originally Brahms wanted his Violin Concerto to be a four movement work, but the discarded Scherzo found its way into his 2nd Piano Concerto.
I love the central Adagio, one thing about Brahms, he didn't really care for convention, four movement Symphony-Concertos, or in this case almost an Oboe Concerto, it's this touch which makes it distinctive, the oboe grabs the glory by introducing the gorgeous slow tune, and not just a short intro, but for a whopping good 2 minutes [0:09-2:00], lovely languid lines, until drowned out by the flute, the violin takes up the oboe tune [2:19+], and immediately plays sweetly in the high register [2:28-2:40], i keep expecting to hear the oboe break in with its intro all over again, or maybe a full duet, and even though there is a little taster of that [7:37-8:08], but really it's a Violin Concerto after all.
Here's Kyung-Wha Chung playing the Adagio on YouTube.
