Search - Mendelssohn, Haitink, Lso :: Violin Concerto

Henryk Szeryng is solid as a Greek column in his 1974 account of the Violin Concerto, his playing passionate if typically dry-eyed. In these days of child prodigies, it's reassuring to hear a violinist with a really big sound and heroic approach, like Szeryng, play a piece without gratuitously pulling it apart. His phrases are sculpted with Michelangelesque authority. Haitink and the Dutch orchestra are marvelous accomplices here, and the recording is wonderful, with vivid presence and lots of depth. Both the symphony and the overture receive first-rate performances as well. --Ted Libbey