Performer: Nicola Benedetti, Tamas Andras, Thomas Carroll, Ksenija Sidorova, Petr Limonov, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Leonard Elschenbroich, Alexei Grynyuk
Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Andrew Litton, Jakub Hrůša, Daniel Harding, Kirill Karabits
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Decca
Catalogue: 4786106
Release: 2013
Size: 327 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons: Summer III. Presto
02. Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
03. Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor
04. Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel
05. Chopin: Nocturne No. 20 in C sharp minor, Op. post.
06. Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, TH. 59 III. Allegro vivacissimo
07. Massenet: Meditation (from Thaïs)
08. Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 II. Adagio
09. Monti: Csárdás
10. Hess: Main Theme (From “Ladies in Lavender”)
11. Williams: Schindler’s List: Theme
12. Gardel: Por Una Cabeza
Just 26 years old, Nicola Benedetti has been making chart-topping recordings for 10 years.
This album celebrates the best of those recordings, and her other successes – from winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 2004, to her 2012 best-selling album ‘The Silver Violin’.
A collection of great violin music – from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending to the Tchaikovsky and Bruch violin concertos and Arvo Part’s Spiegel Im Spiegel. The disc also features brand new recordings – Brahms’ invigorating Hungarian Dance no. 5, Monti’s ever-popular Czardas, and Chopin’s emotional Nocturne in C# minor.
The album includes Nicola performing with leading orchestras and conductors, as well as some of her favourite chamber players. This album showcases the incredible range of Nicola’s playing, and demonstrates her appeal to a wider audience across a range of markets.
Considering Nicola Benedetti’s phenomenal success with her performances of concertos, which give her ample room to stretch out and show all of her talents, it’s a little perplexing to see this album of short pieces and excerpts, which, while attractive, do not fully satisfy. Benedetti is one of the world’s leading violinists, and her impeccable technique and lustrous tone bring out the best in anything she plays, even on a fairly predictable album of violin favorites. However, the drama she brings to her playing is best appreciated in full-length concertos, which provide contrasts of expression and the interpretive possibilities that allow Benedetti to present herself to best advantage. Yet this album not only reprises single movements from her recordings of concertos by Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, and Bruch, but it also offers Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, Massenet’s Meditation from Thaïs, and Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel, found on her album Fantasie, as well as Hess’ Ladies in Lavender, Williams’ Main Theme from Schindler’s List, and Gardel’s Por una cabeza, which were included on The Silver Violin. Only three tracks are new recordings, Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5, Chopin’s Nocturne No. 20, and Monti’s Czárdás. This CD is really a compilation of Benedetti’s greatest hits, and fans who already own her previous albums will be disappointed that this collection overlaps them so much.