Composer: Max Bruch, Florence Price
Performer: Randall Goosby
Orchestra: Philadelphia Orchestra
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Decca
Catalogue: 4854234
Release: 2023
Size: 2.41 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
01. I. Vorspiel. Allegro moderato
02. II. Adagio
03. III. Finale. Allegro energico
Price: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D
04. I. Tempo moderato
05. II. Andante
06. III. Allegro
07. Price: Violin Concerto No. 2
08. Price: Adoration
Both young-phenom violinist Randall Goosby and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin have championed the music of Florence Beatrice Price, and this Decca release seems a major effort to bring her music into the concert mainstream, juxtaposing it with one of the warhorses of the repertory, the Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 26, of Max Bruch. It works well, with a broadly appealing program that hangs together. Goosby has a recognizable brilliant tone, sometimes compared with that of Itzhak Perlman, that is generally well suited to this music. Other violinists have offered more sentiment in the Bruch concerto, but his reading is fully thought out and fits with Nézet-Séguin’s restrained, somewhat hushed tone (sample the Adagio). It works well in the Violin Concerto No. 1 (1939) of Price, a work with elements of Dvořák and Tchaikovsky mixed with a lightly African-American idiom that is mostly given to the soloist. The later Violin Concerto No. 2, written shortly before Price’s death, is more compact although not necessarily more effective; Goosby’s clean, neutral playing displays it at its best here, and once again, his coordination with Nézet-Séguin’s Philadelphia Orchestra bodes well for a substantial future. Another bonus is the presence of Adoration, an organ work that has been recorded several times in this violin-and-orchestra version, and a work that seems to fill the need for a crowd-pleaser, encore-type work from this composer; it too showcases Goosby’s talent. Those wanting to sample the music of Price, rapidly rising in the concert hall, would do well to choose this release, which landed on classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2023.