Various Composers - Popular Violin Encores [Chang/Abramovich] 

First of all, just a word about the cover, i didn't like the original cover that this came with, so i cut a picture from the front cover of a magazine [BBC Music Magazine - February 2004], rubbed some transfer lettering on it, and hey presto!, a really nice cover [it was originally called 'Simply Sarah'], but it's the music on the disc that's so good and varied, it's one of those discs, that even though it has 14 different Composers on it, there still feels this idea that they all belong together, there's this coherence here.

Sarah Chang is of course a violin superstar now, she finally hit her thirties, and shrugged off the child prodigy, she actually made this album in 1996 when she was still 15, my self made booklet cover is a close-cropped photo of Sarah in a thoughtful pose.

Well i found this so inspirational, it's full of lots of my favourites, one Encore after another i was thrilled, my favourite tracks were 1-2, 6 & 11-12, here's a short summary of each piece,

1 Bazzini - Dance Of The Goblins, a piece of sheer virtuoso brilliance, very fast playing by Chang [0:37-0:41], nice whoops of high sharp singing notes, and pizzicato strums too [2:22-2:43], and impossibly high notes [3:49-4:01], with a stunning bravura finale to it.
2 Paganini - Cantibile, the opposite of the first piece, sweetly lyrical, inflamed and impassioned, it's probably my most favourite encore, the sweeping flow of the piece right from the start is so compelling, and the sheer intensity of feeling that she generates at its climax [1:00-1:29], just an achingly stunning piece. 
6 Dinicu - Hora Staccato, a lovely agitated piece, it has a gypsy feel to it, lots of fast bowing, 'wrong' out of tune notes [0:33-1:06], especially by the piano [1:26-1:37], it's really short at under 2 minutes, and the ending is so inspired, very much an anti-climax on a soft yet abrupt pizzicato note, and yet so perfectly ends the piece on a nice controversy.
11 Gluck - Melodie, another highly inspired lyrical piece, much like the earlier Paganini Cantibile, it's also known as 'Dance of the Blessed Spirits', this is a mournful lament, with superb aching and longing [0:53+], long legato lines, a nice singing tone from Chang, there's moments of pure regret [2:07+], it's sad but makes me happy!.
12 Kroll - Banjo and Fiddle, an upbeat piece, the key is in its title, it switches from pizzicato 'banjo' to bowing 'fiddle', constantly going back and forth, and it certainly has humour too [2:17-2:25], with what sounds like a nice laugh at the end.
This is one of the very best violin and piano encore discs that i own.

Various Composers - Virtuoso Violin Encores [Vengerov/Golan]

Here's a nice recital of violin encores, nice and varied, though maybe a tad too much Kreisler, it gets Vengerov to show off his Strad!.

The booklet cover is interesting, showing Vengerov in a coat and tails, looking like part of the proper establishment, and certainly that goes along with the music, he's a proper respected Classical Violinist, however he's also wearing a pair of jeans, and maybe this also gives a hint of his musical persona, as he is individual, and at times doesn't do things by the book, maybe he's trying to be Nigel Kennedy!.

The two pieces i liked the most are tracks 5 & 12, the Bloch piece is nice and dark, a nice sorrowful lament, well worth getting to know, but it's the last track, Bazzini's 'Dance Of The Goblins' that's truly a final encore piece to bring the house down, it's almost as if Bazzini composed it with exploring every device and ability that the violin has in mind, it's a great variety of fireworks, and i'm sure it's devilishly hard to learn and play.

Each section starts off with the piano making a short 'fanfare', Vengerov comes in with very fast and virtuosi playing [0:02-0:38], this part is very staccato, lots of notes, little cries and sighs here and there, towards the end there's a dramatic extra virtuoso edge to it, this opening section returns a little later [1:34-2:10], and right at the end it comes back again [3:50+], but it soon turns different, as it turns into the showy bravura finale, there's some wonderful pizzicato from Vengerov [4:45-4:50 & 4:56-5:01], notice the piano in the background playing notes in the highest treble of the keyboard, a lovely effect!, what a showstopper!.

Here's Maxim Vengerov playing the Bazzini on YouTube.