Lalo - Symphonie Espagnole [Yun/Lopez Cobos-London Philharmonic Orchestra]Here's quite possibly my favourite Violin Concerto [if you can call it a Violin Concerto], five tremendous movements, all with a wonderful variety, and certainly Spanish rhythms too, and all for 35 minutes.
Kim Chee-Yun is certainly underrated in my opinion, stuck on the Denon Classical label [not a bad thing], but it means exposure in the west is limited, Denon records are somewhat obscure, i'm sure she's really big in the Far East.
The movement that really got me going, was the central Intermezzo, of course with those mesmerizing Spanish rhythms, it starts off with a superb intro, with forte fanfares [0:00+], and low string fanfare rhythms [0:06+], interspersed with gentle woodwind replies [0:13+], it's the perfect foil for when the violin enters [0:56-2:02], in the sultry low registers to start with [0:56+], but then becoming interspersed with higher tessitura notes, and then copying the tuneful opening, this is the best moment in the Intermezzo, towards the end the violin prepares us for the re-introduction of the opening tune [3:54-4:14], with some nice smouldering fireworks, and then the re-entry of that wonderful opening violin tune [4:14+], it's mesmerizing, what a beautiful disc this is.
Here's Silvia Marcovici playing the third movement on YouTube.
