Search - Arthur Benjamin, Benjamin Britten, Max Bruch :: Britten, Bruch, Benjamin: Double Concertos

A surprise hit -- three double concertos for violin and viol

T. Fisher | 09/14/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD was an impulse buy. I had not heard any of the pieces on the disc, but was encouraged by the low price and by some earlier pleasant experiences with the Arte Nova label. Indeed, I was completely wrong about the CD -- when I read "double concertos" I immediately assumed they would be for violin and cello. Rather, these are all for violin (played by Benjamin Schmid) and viola (played by Daniel Raiskin), with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra.



I really loved the album, it was a tremendously pleasant surprise. The pieces are all post-Romantic in style, although the Bruch concerto really hearkens back to the heyday of full-on Romanticism. The playing is terrific throughout and the sound quality as well.



The disc starts off with the Romantic Fantasy for Violin, Viola and Orchestra, written in 1937 by Arthur Benjamin (who, according to the liner notes, was one of Benjamin Britten's teachers). This is probably my favorite on the disc. The main theme is a simple fanfare starting out on horn but quickly taken over by the lead instruments. The first movement is an enjoyable development of the theme, but then rhythms and orchestrations really get interesting in the second and third movements before the piece ends with a full-orchestra version of the initial fanfare. The whole thing really is quite fun.



Benjamin Britten's rarely-heard Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra is also very enjoyable. This was a very early piece written in 1932, while Britten was still a student. The concerto survived in a detailed draft form in his archives but was never performed or published during his lifetime, and the composer marked his contemporaneous "Simfonietta" as his Opus 1. According to the liner notes, Britten's draft was detailed enough that the final score is "not far from being 100% Britten". The piece is really very good, and is full of drama and exciting rhythms in the first and third movements. I thought the slow second movement was reminiscent of Vaughan Williams.



The final piece is the Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra by Max Bruch, from 1911. The liner notes indicate it had been largely forgotten by 1912, and this is not too hard to believe given that it is pretty but nothing more, and that Schoenberg and Stravinsky would soon be shaking up the world. Its style goes back to an 1870s feeling, when Brahms was still around and when Bruch had just written his own great violin concerto. The Double Concerto, however, doesn't match Bruch's own earlier work for originality or impact.



No matter. The Benjamin and Britten pieces more than make up for the Bruch, which really isn't bad, just a bit dull. I can highly recommend this CD!

"