Performances of great character for a still-underrated American
The Strad Issue: July 2025
Description: Performances of great character for a still-underrated American
Musicians: Fanny Clamagirand (violin) Han Chen (piano) Malmö Opera Orchestra/John Jeter
Works: Price: Violin Concertos nos.1 and 2; Piano Concerto in One Movement; Dances in the Canebrakes
Catalogue number: NAXOS 8559952
In the opening movement of Price’s First Violin Concerto, Fanny Clamagirand weaves the pentatonic themes and dancing dotted-rhythm passagework with charm and style, and in the cadenza she dashes off double-stops and arabesques with aplomb.
Her playing is as captivating and open-hearted as the piece itself, with an engaging blend of subtlety and folk-like naïvety, her tone glistening and warm. She dispatches Price’s inventive discourses with ease and agility. In the dreaming Andante she is relaxed and musing, rhythmically flexible, and the finale is nimble and occasionally dramatic, with some fine orchestral flute playing along the way.
Price wrote her Second Concerto 13 years later in 1952, a one-movement work with constant changes of tempo. The violin writing is capricious at the outset, played with rhythmic élan, leading into the extended sequence of the work, laid out with narrative surety by Clamagirand as she switches moods – from the humorous to suave, languid lyricism, all full of character and an easy virtuosity.
Price’s Piano Concerto, with its jolly ragtime finale, is given a splendidly idiomatic performance by Han Chen. The CD is rounded off with an attractive set of three dances. The Malmö Opera Orchestra under John Jeter is excellent throughout. The recorded sound is clear and warm.
TIM HOMFRAY
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