Sibelius - Violin Concerto [Marcovici/ Jarvi-The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra]

This compact disc comes from Boots the Chemist, yes they actually delved into Classical music, and produced their own range of exclusive discs, of course these all were re-issues from other labels back catalogues, this one is a BIS recording, but they weren't merely Handel's Messiah and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture stuff, they really had some inventive titles, and certainly here's one, coupling the Sibelius's Violin Concerto with his Tapiola, but also giving us three other short orchestral works that are off the beaten track, and well worth getting to know, even Sibelius's lesser known works are fantastic, i played this while walking through the park on the way to Church, a lovely hot summers day.

Silvia Marcovici is Romanian, born in 1952, she recorded this work in 1985, and Boots can actually make some nice booklet covers as well, this one features a really nice painting of a lighthouse in rough seas, though sadly the Painter is not credited in the notes.

Well i am seriously starting to feel that Sibelius's Violin Concerto is quite possibly my favourite in this form, and it vies for top spot with Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, i enjoyed the whole of this Concerto immensely today, there were many moments in the first movement that stood out as wonderful highlights, but amazingly the central slow movement was even better!, i love the woodwind idea at the very start, two clarinets in duet, and then replied in echo by two oboes, and then played again as a full quartet [0:00-0:36], fairly abstract and bleak, a perfect foil for when the violin comes in, when the first forte arrives, it's from the orchestral lower strings [3:10-3:47], i just love the way the trumpets reply [3:20+], and then the strings repeat their phrase even louder, with timpani in the background for great effect [3:24+], and then the brass repeat theirs again, this time joined by the rest of the orchestra [3:34+], a really clever inventive moment, the violin then creates a real intensity with faster and faster bowing [4:28-4:45], culminating in a ravishing high treble outburst [4:45-5:14], which slowly dies away down into rhapsody [5:14+], it's the central kernel to this wonderful movement, but it builds up again [6:01-6:33] until it explodes into another satisfying forte, right at the end the violin has a tender closing passage [7:42-8:11], what a gut wrenching middle movement, so full of all sorts of intensity, Marcovici is excellent throughout, and the recording is superb.

Here's Silvia Marcovici playing the slow movement on YouTube.

Brahms - Violin Sonata 3 [Belkin/Dalberto]

The saga of my ongoing love affair with these Violin Sonatas continues, last month it was the Second Sonata [6th June 2011], and now it's the turn of the Third, cast in four movements than the usual three, this disc is quickly establishing itself as one of my best Brahms Violin Sonatas that i own.

Boris Belkin is Russian, born in 1948, he recorded this disc in 1994, the visuals for this disc are absolutely excellent, i like the seven little vignettes of Belkin & Dalberto, all with a blue tinge, everything well laid out and pleasing.

The work is in D Minor, and the first movement has that aching sadness about it, but in contrast the second movement is in glorious D Major, sweet after the sour, it's soothing and refreshing, and yet Brahms can never get away from a tinge of regret in his music, but there's certainly a number of knots untied after the gripping first movement, i must admit this second movement actually sounds fairly slow, so i compared it to some other discs i have,

Chung / Frankl - 4:01

Mullova / Anderszewski - 4:04

Mutter / Weissenberg - 4:18

Znaider / Bronfman - 4:29

Belkin / Dalberto - 4:33

Amoyal / Roge - 4:36

Spivakov / Ghindin - 4:42

Dumay / Pires - 4:46

Perlman / Ashkenazy - 4:52

Frank / Serkin - 6:00

actually it's fairly average, the Perlman / Ashkenazy 'sounds' faster, and the Frank / Serkin works out to be a snail!, Belkin starts with a ravishing deeply felt lyricism [0:00+], and later he repeats the beginning slightly faster [2:09+], with the Pianist Dalberto playing a more complex version of the accompaniment, which turns really quite rhapsodic [2:57+ & 3:16+], wonderfully soothing.  

Here's Leonidas Kavakos playing the second movement Adagio on YouTube.

Elgar - Cello Concerto [Kirshbaum/Gibson- The Scottish National Orchestra]

Here's an Elgar Cello Concerto i had on disc, i sell discs, and this is one that i'm in two minds on, should i sell it or should i keep it?, the solution of course is to 'give it a spin', and see what i think, it also has an interesting Walton coupling, my 'touchstone' Elgar Cello Concerto recording is the Lloyd-Webber / Menuhin, and this recording is consistently slower in every movement, and especially where Kirshbaum is playing solo, he seems to dwell on his own beauty, a bit narcissistic, the final movement suffers the most, must be 15% slower.

Ralph Kirshbaum is American, now 65 years old, he made this recording way back in 1979, must be one of the early digital discs made by Chandos as the DDD era only started about then, the front booklet cover shows a very dark picture, skillfully lit, and it's only the highlights that create the picture [photo by Clive Barda].

It was the short second movement Allegro Molto i liked the best, i'm not entirely sure where the second movement starts officially, but on this recording the indexing starts with the cello playing deep bass pizzicato notes over an orchestral bass string drone [0:00-0:19], the cello is caught superbly on the recording, with a nice acoustic twang, Kirshbaum caresses the phrases, after a short solo cadenza, the cello moves into frantic playing mode, interspersed with a more lyrical and languid playing, right at the end the cello finishes things off with a choice pizzicato finale [5:10-5:14], a nice foil for the following Adagio, i think the final analysis is to listen to it some more!.

Here's Seeli Toivio playing the second movement on YouTube.

Szymanowski - Nocturne And Tarantella [Krysa/ Tchekina]

Here's a nice disc i picked up, representing most of Szymanowski's works for violin and piano, it's amazing how many similar discs like this are around, and Szymanowski has a certain way with 'ghostly' melodies, tunes that come back to haunt you, very exotic in many ways, sort of like Scriabin but with more dissonance.

Oleh Krysa is Ukrainian, and is 69 years old, he made this recording in 1995, the Pianist on this recording, Tatiana Tchekina is his wife, the recording is quite reverberant, it somewhat gets on your nerves in fortissimos, too bassy and warm, needs to be more clinical, the front cover photo is a pleasing enough picture.

Ever since i first heard the Three Myths Op30, i was hooked on Szymanowski's soundworld, especially the opening 'The Fountain Of Arethusa', but on this listen it's the Nocturne & Tarantella that i was gripped by, the opening Nocturne is similar in nature to 'The Fountain Of Arethusa', probably why i like it so much, it has the Pianist at extremes of the keyboard, bass rumblings with the left hand, punctuated with odd treble tolling in the right [0:00-0:49], while at the same time the violin has a ghostly and eerie sliding around on the strings, a really lovely opening ethereal effect, and right after the violin plays high in the treble [0:53-1:46], very exotic, later the piano clanging in the treble is so effective, while the violin plays lazily [2:32-3:00], love the excellent hard pizzicato strumming from the violin [3:25-3:34], with the piano also playing loud and clangorous in the treble, the opening returns to some degree [4:04+], and the very closing pages are superb, with the violin sounding like pan pipes or something, [5:10-5:33], Szymanowski's a phenomenal master of the mood, and would have made a great film Composer, the following Tarantella is a tour de force, and as the name suggests is a demented dance, lots of squeaks, shrieks, and stamping pizzicato moments, i like the way the violin plays these loud pizzicato outbursts [3:45-3:58], very pointedly done, and again later sounding like some demented lazy woodwind instrument [4:33-4:45], right at the very end the violin slides down the strings to die [5:31-5:38], a clever ending, and a superb piece of music.

Here's the Nocturne & Tarantella played on YouTube by Anita Wasik.