Search - Sibelius, Prokofiev, Zimmermann :: Violin Concertos

Solid performances of Two Disparate Concerti

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 03/25/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"EMI continues to select releases (this CD is due for re-issue on the budget label) that challenge the usual pairing of works. This recoding made in 1992 has been neglected by the media and the public for reasons that remain unclear.



Frank Peter Zimmermann is an accomplished violinist who seems more bent on digging into expanding his repertoire rather that courting his audiences. What results on this well recorded CD are very solid performances of difficult works. The Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor is performed with attention to the dramatic sweep of the work, which is not to say Zimmermann does not find the beauties inherent on the work or is less than able to straddle all the hurdles of this concerto. His collaboration with Mariss Jansons conducting the London Philharmonia Orchestra

is well conceived and the two artists feel in agreement with the vision of the work.



Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor is perhaps less challenging than the Sibelius but is does require the thinking man's approach that Zimmermann and Jansons obey well. This may not be the most romantically inclined performance on record but is one well performed and has more transparency than many other versions.



Recommendation: when the budget series issue is released this will be a 'must have' for the standard collection of works for violin and orchestra. Grady Harp, March 06

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