A dynamic partnership wins over a short-measure album
THE STRAD RECOMMENDS
The Strad Issue: June 2025
Description: A dynamic partnership wins over a short-measure album
Musicians: Nicola Benedetti (violin) Aurora Orchestra/Nicholas Collon
Works: Beethoven: Violin Concerto
Catalogue number: DECCA 4871016
Nicola Benedetti’s performance, in which – we are proudly told – everyone plays by heart, sounds urgent from the outset, creating a fresh impression. She takes charge of the first movement and her dynamic liberties may be too much for some, but I am won over. I am underwhelmed by the main cadenzas (Petr Limonov helped her adapt Beethoven’s first-movement cadenza from the piano version and Wynton Marsalis contributed to that for the Rondo) but I like her other cadenzas.
She makes a real attempt to achieve intensity in the Larghetto but her tone becomes over-vibrant in the process. The urgency continues in the Rondo and overall I find her interpretation refreshing. The orchestra sounds brassier in the tuttis, which may simply reflect the lively acoustic of Alexandra Palace. At 41 minutes, though, the disc is only half full.
TULLY POTTER
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