Search - Robert Schumann, Henryk Wieniawski, Sergiu Comissiona :: Schumann & Wieniawski: Violin Concertos

Good combination of rarely coupled repertoire

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 10/04/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I was torn between giving this little CD 3 or 4 stars until I heard the collaboration of soloist Juliette Kang and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under Sergiu Commissiona revel in the closing pages of Wieniawski's D Minor Concerto and its gypsy themes. There, the emotion of the collaborators aligned with the music to convince me this is clearly an above average collection for lovers of violin music.



This CD is marketed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and must have been meant for circulation in North America, given that its notes are printed only in French and English, the two langauges of Canada. Kang is a Canadian as is -- obviously! -- the Vancouver (British Columbia) Symphony Orchestra.



I'd never seen these two concerti paired before, either on LP or CD. This version of the Schumann concerto is a big step up from the last one I owned, by Bell and the Cleveland Orchestra under Ashkenazy. Compared to the routine run through the more famous soloist gave the music, Kang is leisurely, broadly paced and -- in the first movement -- verges on a Kennedy-like languor that leaves the score dripping with tenderness.



The pairing of soloist and conductor is more electrically charged in the Wieniawski Concerto No. 2, where there is more than incremental delicacy in the delightful second movement romance & andante, followed by the full blown Slavic flavor of the closing allegro's virtuosic gypsy dance.



Wang plays 1730 & 1740 violins in this performance which includes Wieniawski's Legend in G Minor, an 8 1/2 minute piece of virtuosity and romance. Wang is as clever and individual here as in the Schumann and is equally as successful as before.



This, then, presents a mating of romantic concertos you probably don't have together in your collection. The recording has value in its program and in the discovery (for most people) of the Canadian soloist, who is a talented player with a strong technique and certain ideas about the music she plays. She is well-recorded and placed a bit forward from the orchestra, whose playing is good but not always clearly defined.



Whether the Schumann will stand up to the legendary account by Szeryng, or whether the Wieniawski can compete against your favorite performer, are questions only repeated listening can answer. For me, this recording has a strong beginning in that direction."

Juliette Kang nailed it

kreisler | 07/14/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I usually don't obsess about various recordings of classical music works -but I was never happy with the few recordings of the absolutely beautiful, absolutely underappreciated Schumann violin concerto. Most recordings are too hurried (for instance, Kremer's first recording, or Bell, Menuhin) or too inconsistent with the tempo, and that's probably why Gidon Kremer, in his second recording, fell into the opposite extreme and played the first movement a little and the final very much too slow.



In this recording, both the first and the last movements are played between these extremes and sound just right - especially the final polonaise sounds like a polonaise and not hurried or dragging on like a slow march (Kremer now plays it so slow that he falls short on energy and virtuosity, and he got relatively little applause at a concert I attended a few years ago, even from the excitable Chicago audience). And all the technical difficulties are mastered perfectly, especially the breathtaking difficulty of the last movement that is, despite being a polnaise, a true virtuoso final. The Vancouver orchestra plays fine as well. If you love the Schumann concerto, try this recording.



Juliette Kang is apparently mainly playing in Canada - IMHO, she definitely deserves a truly international carreer ... and this recording is an encouragement for the listener to buy recordings off the beaten path, from smaller labels and with lesser known artists ... Kang basically outplays Kremer, Bell, Menuhin, which is really a great surprise."