Violin Concertos

Description

The great Violin Concerto that Edvard Elgar wrote in 1909 for Fritz Kreisler remains a mystery for many violinists: Jascha Heifetz got lost in it, while Campoli immediately found its effusive lyricism. Rachel Barton-Pine seems to follow suit with her very physical playing, but in subtle agreement with the beat of Andrew Litton, she adds an intimate understanding of the great rubato that Elgar distills throughout his work, an essential element of his grammar. If this score is played without varying the musical tempos, it dies under your fingers; here it sings and swoons, soars and folds, glides and rises. A violin? A bird, as if Vaughan Williams' Lark was born from this concerto, having taken flight five years later. From start to finish, this violin dares unheard-of phrasings of lyricism, a subtly shaped playing even in the bursts, a fervor runs through Barton-Pine's bow as the orchestra surrounds or lifts her; it is a truly great version of the work, one of the most radical and perhaps the most accurate I have heard since the flamboyant interpretations of Dimitri Sitkovetsky and Pinchas Zukerman. The same physical intensity imparts a dark urgency to Bruch's First Concerto, making me hope that this magnificent violinist will continue by recording the Scottish Fantasy and the other Concertos. (Discophilia - Artalinna.com) (Jean-Charles Hoffelé)