Composer: Max Bruch, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Performer: Nicola Benedetti
Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Jakub Hrůša
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Decca
Catalogue: 4764092
Release: 2010
Size: 250 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
01. I. Allegro Moderato
02. II. Canzonetta – Andante
03. III. Allegro vivacissimo
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
04. I. Vorspiel – Allegro moderato
05. II. Adagio
06. III. Finale: Allegro energico
When reflecting on Nicola Benedetti’s varied career to date it’s easy to forget that she has only just turned 23. Benedetti shot into the public spotlight as winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year at the age of 16 and has since released four albums for Deutsche Grammophon while building a solid international career.
Benedetti’s career was crowned this summer when she made her BBC Proms debut, performing Vaughan Williams’ ‘The Lark Ascending’ in the Royal Albert Hall. Other recent and upcoming highlights include debuts with the Russian National Orchestra, as well as her Dallas and Pittsburg debuts.
In her previous recordings Benedetti has always made creative repertoire choices with innovative groupings of pieces. Works have included world premiere recordings by leading British composers such James MacMillan and Sir John Tavener. But now Benedetti, for the first time, has recorded two giants of the violin concerto repertoire, the Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, op.35 and Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, op.26.
The Tchaikovsky and Bruch concertos, composed in 1878 and 1866 respectively, are two of the best-known – and best-loved – concertos in the repertoire. In the case of the Tchaikovsky it is also one of the most technically demanding.
Although Benedetti’s fifth album for Deutsche Grammophon, this will be her first of entirely standard violin repertoire. With this album, Benedetti has recorded works against which all violinists must test themselves.
In her previous recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Nicola Benedetti displayed a varied repertoire that ranged from works by Vaughan Williams and Tavener to MacMillan and Szymanowski, which are not exactly eccentric choices but somewhat outside the usual programming for young virtuoso violinists. Yet the time has come for Benedetti to take on the blockbusters of her profession, and the violin concertos by Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky and Max Bruch on this 2011 release are central to the genre. Supported by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Jakub Hrusa, Benedetti plays with flexibility and a sweet expression that is slightly introspective and poignant in the lyrical passages, but assured and outgoing in the flashy sections. There is no question that she has grown into these challenging pieces and has both the emotional maturity and technical acumen to bring them off. But they still feel like youthful performances, fresh in spirit and bright in sound, so they will appeal to an audience that prizes those qualities over an older violinist’s more seasoned approach. Even so, in the Bruch, Benedetti evokes enough of that concerto’s autumnal feeling in her darker tone to balance her effervescence in the Tchaikovsky. Deutsche Grammophon’s reproduction is exceptional, giving Benedetti a natural placement in media res, while bringing out all the details in the orchestral accompaniment.