John Adams: Violin Concerto; John Corigliano: Red Violin "Chaconne"

John Corigliano (Composer), George Enescu (Composer), Franz Waxman (Composer), John [Composer] Adams (Composer), Leonard Slatkin (Conductor), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Charles Owen (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Charles Owen
• Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Leonard Slatkin
• Composer: John Corigliano, George Enescu, Franz Waxman, John [Composer] Adams
• Audio CD (September 26, 2006)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos American
• ASIN: B000H4VZC6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,797 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Violinist Chloë Hanslip here tackles John Adams's great Violin Concerto and comes out a winner. The beautiful piece, with its almost endlessly spun melodies from the soloist, is as unexpectedly interesting as it is ambitious. It was a joint commission by two orchestras and the New York City Ballet. Its purpose for dance is clear from the start, but there's far more to it than that. The first and central movements are rhapsodic; the third is all jittery movement. This is as fine a performance as Robert McDuffie's on Telarc. The rest of the CD is made up of fluff: Corigliano's Red Violin Chaconne is a surprisingly noisy, exciting piece, but hardly on the same level as the Adams. Franz Waxman's "version" of Enescu's First Romanian Rhapsody is a zippy, vulgar two-and-a-half minutes, and the same composer's Fantasia from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is a fatty, heavy, Romantic piece of costume jewelry with piano solo (nicely played by Charles Owen). This bargain issue is needed for the Adams; the rest of the music is barely worth hearing, though Hanslip plays it all expertly and Leonard Slatkin and the Royal Philharmonic accompany with zest. --Robert Levine

Strings Magazine, Inge Kjemtrup of Chloe Hanslip, May 2007

At the age of 18, she can rival well- established players with a firm grasp on what music needs.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Mixed Bag, October 12, 2006

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: John Adams: Violin Concerto; John Corigliano: Red Violin "Chaconne" (Audio CD)

There must be something wrong with my ears. I have heard John Adams's wildly popular Violin Concerto numerous times, and it has already been recorded at least three other times. But I hear little in it that appeals to me; it does not touch me at all emotionally. I can admire the skill and the complexity of the writing, but for me it doesn't really add up to much. That said, Chloë Hanslip does a bang-up job of playing it and if you already know this piece and want a recording of it you could certainly do worse, particularly when you consider its budget price. Hanslip's playing may not be quite as intense as that of Gidon Kremer on the first recording of the work or that of Robert McDuffie on Telarc, but it comes a close second. Her tone is a bit more slender but also perhaps more lyrical than that of the other-mentioned violinists.

The more positive parts of this CD for me are the accompanying pieces. I had not heard any of John Corigliano's music for the movie 'The Red Violin' but know it was quite successful and that Joshua Bell's recording of the music from the movie was a best-seller. The present work, the 'Chaconne from The Red Violin', a sixteen-minute confection based on a recurring melody from the movie, is altogether more compelling for me and is played beautifully here.

The other two pieces on the CD are from the pen of the great movie composer, Franz Waxman. First is his arrangement for violin and orchestra of Enescu's Romanian Rhapsody No. 1. It is actually primarily music from the orchestral original's fast middle section, and Hanslip plays the fireworks with requisite heat and sparkle. Waxman's 'Tristan and Isolde Fantasia' is from the 1940s movie 'Humoresque' (a Jean Negulesco soap opera about a violinist, played by John Garfield, pursued by a rich woman, Joan Crawford). It is for violin and orchestra (with a prominent piano obbligato part played expertly here by Charles Owen) and is essentially a paraphrase of the love music from Wagner's opera. It accompanies the climax of the film and carries much of the emotional freight of that scene. Hanslip and the Royal Philharmonic under Leonard Slatkin do it proud.

My recommendation, then, is that if you already know you are fond of the Adams Violin Concerto and don't have a recording of it, this might be for you. If you are curious about the Adams but aren't familiar with it, its budget price might appeal, although this performance is not quite as effective as those by Kremer and McDuffie. I can recommend the CD for the other, briefer pieces (they do add up to about 30 minutes of music, though). One small caveat: on my system the orchestral sound seemed a bit recessed with the violin in a bright spotlight.

Scott Morrison

4.0 out of 5 stars John Adams: Violing Concerto, September 20, 2011

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FAL - See all my reviews

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This review is from: John Adams: Violin Concerto; John Corigliano: Red Violin "Chaconne" (Audio CD)

Great performance and artistry of a masterful work of art.
This peace brings forth a myriad of colors and dynamics
into a whirlwind of beauty.

4.0 out of 5 stars What a deal! Lovely performance of J. Adams' Violin Concerto, but with a weird coupling, July 2, 2011

By 

dysfunctional-harmony (Fremont, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: John Adams: Violin Concerto; John Corigliano: Red Violin "Chaconne" (Audio CD)

Right to the point: Chloë Hanslip gives Gidon Kremer a good run for his craggy-tone money in this astounding recording of John Adams' Violin Concerto. The sprawling lyricism of the first movement, the odd sentiment of the second, and the sheer head-banging excitement of the third are all perfectly captured by the young Miss Hanslip in this wondrous disc. American conductor Leonard Slatkin leads the Royal Philharmonic in absolutely perfect harmony with Hanslip. Honestly, the couplings are a trifle. They don't really add much to this (already amazing) disc. I honestly wish they had just paired it with the entire Red Violin Concerto, but that may have been too much to fit on the disc. But at Naxos' price, the added stuff is hardly unaffordable. My only I would say that they could have mixed in the orchestra a little louder (and the violin a little softer!) in the engineering studio. Just saying. But otherwise, this is required listening for any fan of John Adams. Highly recommended.