Search - Peter Breiner, Zhan-hao / Chen, Gang He, James Judd :: The Butterfly Lovers Concerto [Hybrid SACD]

Poor performance of the lovely concerto

Gadgester | Mother Earth | 06/17/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is Nishizaki's 7th recording of the famous Chinese violin concerto -- and of the five recordings from her I've heard, the worst. The pace is too slow, and, unlike in her previous performance, Nishizaki did not employ techniques derived from the Chinese instrument erhu, techniques necessary to give the concerto the perfect blend of East and West. Her playing sounds almost perfunctory, disinterested, lazy. The orchestra does a fine job, but since this concerto is all about the soloist, the performance sucks.



Breiner's 8-piece suite based on Chinese melodies from the Silk Road is disappointingly banal and nothing more than an album filler.



I only give this CD 2 stars because the concerto is so beautiful. (BTW, the SACD versions have great sound.)"