Search - Jean Sibelius, Ernest Chausson, Michael Tilson Thomas :: Sibelius: Violin Concerto; Chausson: Poeme for Violin & Orchestra; Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg

Original, Honest, Raw, Viceral, Wild, and Wonderful

Rumbachulo | Ithaca, NY USA | 10/26/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Michael Tilson Thomas's recording of the Sibelius is a remarkable marriage of human outpourings. So often, this concerto-possibly because of its enormous combination of both musical and technical demands-swallows some of the most accomplished soloists whole.



I own dozens of recordings of this piece, and where many soloist come to the task with as much or more technical ability and experience as Salerno-Sonnenberg, somewhere between what Sibelius requires of the soloist and the actual performance, the soloist truckles to the composer's identity with rather bland and uninteresting essays of this work. Others are in battle from the first note, and give performances that sound like what a surfer cresting a wave looks like: sure, they're winning; they've beaten Sibelius, but was that object of the adventure?



It sometimes comforts us to classify that which moves us or changes us in the concert hall or on recordings as "definitive." But really what is a definitive performance if it is not one from which we walk away knowing as much about the performer(s) as we do about the composer? If not, why else would we go back to hear a performance of something we have already heard, or own several recordings of the same piece of music? What are we comparing? Technical prowess in an age when there are more technically proficient violinists prepared challenges presented by this work than ever? Is it possible to have a transcendent listening experience standing abascent to the score or the last performance we've heard?



Salerno-Sonnenberg and Tilson Thomas' performance of the Sibelius belongs in a third category of recordings of this concerto. Her reading of this work needs to be included in category along with the performances of Neveu, Jensen, Chung, and Kavakos of the same concerto. She is neither pushed along by the deluge the work creates, nor is she riding it, she integrates herself into its fabric. And like the readings of this work by Neveu, Jensen, Chung, and Kavakos, the conductor's unique sound is neither diminished nor does it overpower or threaten the soloist. Clearly, she and Michael Tilson Thomas worked closely together to produce a performance that says as much about them as it serves the composition. Each time I listen to this performance, I walk away feeling as if something new in this work as been revealed to me through these artists. Their honesty as highly consummate music makers and staunchly original persons brings to these readings that simply cannot be had anywhere else that is neither predictable nor mannered. Rather, it's something intimate as well as visceral, raw and exposed that can neither be classified or defined, but is very palpable.

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It doesn't get any better than this

William K. Clark | Davis, CA United States | 07/27/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sometimes a piece of music, a performer, and a performance all come together to make perfection. This is one of those times. Nadja always plays with passion and intelligence, but the Sibelius is one of the pieces for which she has a special affinity. The conductor matches her intensity, too - some of her concerto performances are marred by a conductor who seems almost sleepy in comparison with her white-hot intensity (I'm thinking of the Brahms concerto particularly). Not here, though. Every moment breathes with total involvement from all concerned."