A violinist turns personal loss into an album of solace
THE STRAD RECOMMENDS
The Strad Issue: June 2026
Description: A violinist turns personal loss into an album of solace
Musicians: Pekka Kuusisto (violin) Sam Amidon (singer) Norwegian Chamber Orchestra
Works: arr. Muhly: Traditional American folk songs. Reid: Desiderium. Shaw: Plan and Elevation. Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
Catalogue number: PLATOON PLAT29192
If you need another Lark Ascending this could be the one to have. It is a deeply personal account by violinist and director Pekka Kuusisto, recorded when his brother had recently died and his mother was in a hospice. It has both light and perhaps more shade than is usual, and is in no hurry to reach the stratosphere. The opening cadenza emerges from a particularly breathy sur la touche – you can almost feel the chill mist of early morning – and lingers through the arabesques that follow, waiting on the top notes before swooping down again. The flute melody at the Allegro tranquillo is jaunty enough, but this reading of the Lark is free of bucolic naivety. Kuusisto, working his way down to the G string, produces a rich, warm tone. Later he interweaves his semiquavers nicely with the wind. His lark remains a gentle creature, which whispers through the double-stopped 5ths and finally ascends to the heights imbued with wonder. Kuusisto’s playing is wonderfully pure. This is a performance that merits attention.
Later, he performs Ellen Reid’s unaccompanied Desiderium. This is a tough work, lasting nearly six minutes, with moments of lyrical repose but more often with ferocious, discordant multiple stops, scrunches and sul ponticello. Kuusisto’s family circumstances are reflected here too.
Caroline Shaw’s Plan and Elevation is an attractive five-movement work for string orchestra. Finally come Nico Muhly’s arrangements of six traditional American songs from the Vermont folk singer Sam Amidon, gentle and flowing.
Tim Homfray
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