Composer: Edward William Elgar, Gerald Finzi
Performer: Ning Feng
Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Carlos Miguel Prieto
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Channel Classics
Catalogue: CCS40218
Release: 2018
Size: 3.41 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61
01. I. Allegro
02. II. Andante
03. III. Allegro
Finzi: Violin Concerto
04. I. Allegro
05. II. Molto Sereno
06. III. Hornpipe Rondo – Allegro Risoluto
The violin was Edward Elgar’s own instrument and his Violin Concerto is almost like a personal confession: it was ‘too emotional’, Elgar admitted, adding that he loved it nonetheless. The solo part is one of the most exhausting in the repertoire – a veritable compendium of bravura violin techniques. In an interview, Fritz Kreisler, to whom the Violin Concerto is dedicated, ranked Elgar with Beethoven and Brahms. Elgar met the challenge: his Violin Concerto combines the singing quality of Beethoven’s with the symphonic drama of Brahms’s.
The London-born Gerald Finzi was in many ways more English than Elgar and his teacher Ralph Vaughan Williams. As can be heard in his Violin Concerto, a well kept secret from 1927, that had its first performance after the premiere only in 1999. The work lasts twenty minutes: a six-minute Allegro, a superb central ten-minute Molto sereno, and ending with a four-minute Hornpipe Rondo. It is difficult to understand why Finzi was dissatisfied with his two fast movements. The first combines beauty with energy. Through its sheer romantic beauty, the Molto sereno is one of those pieces where the hairs stand up on the back of the neck.
‘Ning Feng delivers all these demanding works with the fire, ice, and sugar, in different measures, that they require. His technique is beyond cavil, of course, but he also plays with a purity and sweetness of tone rare among the current crop of virtuosi.’ – Audiophile Audition
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra has played Edward Elgar’s Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61, many times, but the work gets new dashes of flavor here from Chinese violinist Ning Feng and Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto. Regardless of your reaction to them, this release from Channel Classics is worth your time for the inclusion of the delightful little Violin Concerto by Gerald Finzi, which did not have its premiere until 1999. Few recordings are available. The blame for the work’s suppression lies with Finzi himself, who considered it an imperfect youthful effort. Perhaps the middle movement lacks the concision of the other two (this was his objection), but it’s an exceptionally attractive little neoclassical work, and Finzi was 26 when he wrote it, no teenager. Sample the vigorous hornpipe rondo finale. In the Elgar, Feng studiously avoids the work’s reputation for sentimentality, and one could wish for a bit more expression to be applied, say, in the lower register at the beginning of the first movement. The slow movement is ethereal, however, with Prieto keeping the energy moving in an even flow and Feng handling the abundant technical challenges with ease. You may favor his interpretation, and with the Finzi you will be getting in almost on the ground floor.