Glazunov - Violin Concerto [Josefowicz/ Dutoit-Orchestre Symphonique De Montreal] This is the 'B side' if you like, of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, which i played almost six months ago [28th February 2011], the Glazunov is short on the whole, but shouldn't be looked at as merely filler on this disc, i enjoyed getting to know this work a little more.
Leila Josefowicz is Canadian born, but her parents moved to the United States when she was a child, she made this recording in 1999, and the front photo [by Gerald Forster], is a nice black and white study, violin in hand, bow on strings, the two main performers lettering in red top and bottom, it makes a pleasing visual.
Well i have to admit i liked the third and final movement the most, it has a certain bravura to it, with blazing trumpets to start, it sounds very Spanish to me, something that Rodrigo would do maybe, or maybe Saint-Saens, but soon descends into Tchaikovsky-isms here and there, the start is brilliant and lively, and certainly a memorable tune, the trumpets have a couple of good fanfare blasts [0:00-0:05 & 0:11-0:16] announcing the main tune, and i like the way the violin launches into a solo bravura variation of this tune [0:22-0:44], complete with odd plucked treble notes, i like the orchestral forte outbursts [0:44-0:55 & 1:53-2:03], a nice loud restatement of the main theme, Glazunov brings in the glockenspiel [3:07+] to great effect, and it runs throughout the rest of the movement, bringing a glittering sparkle to it's already fizzy nature, and very much in the manner of winter in his Seasons Ballet, there's variations galore, the very best one is a very fast violin pizzicato [3:53-4:07], with the piccolo accompanying in the main tune, and of course the glockenspiel making a great contribution in the background, ok forget the Tchaikovsky reference, it's more like Sarasate, lovely frothy bravura, and a great ending to this Violin Concerto.
Here's Hilary Hahn playing the third movement on YouTube, it catches her at the very end of the cadenza of the middle movement, the third movement starts on 0:33.
