3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely Superb Szymanowski, February 1, 2008
This review is from: Stravinsky/Szymanowski Violin Concertos (Audio CD)
This superb discing by Chantal Juillet has always been my favorite of the two Szymanowski Concertos. In fact, the performance of the RARELY-heard (at least in the USA) Concerto #2 affected me so profoundly that I had to learn it right away myself. After the first eight bars of bittersweet melody, I was completely hooked. The phrasing is perfect, and thanks to Dutoit's dead-on leadership, the orchestra gives impeccable accompaniment. Particularly impressive is her execution of the first movement cadenza (written by Pawel Kochanski) - played with an incredible spaciousness, and the difficult double stop passages are crystal clear.
The last 'vivace' hurl of the Finale will probably leave you breathless and wanting to hear much more Szymanowski. Unfortunately, not all of his music is quite as impacting. But Juillet really gets to the core of both concertos, musically (which incidentally are both cast in one continuous movement) - the Concerto #1 is played more often, but it is musically very difficult to communicate to an audience. Most performances and recordings of it are too padded, but not this one. My first impression of the Concerto #1 was that if Szymanowski had lived longer into the 20th century, he'd have been a magnificent film scorer.
The Stravinsky Concerto is no less competently done - this is a fine reading but I prefer Kyung-Wha Chung to all others when it comes to this piece. Nonetheless, I highly recommend this disc, particularly to rising violinists who are looking for new concertos for their repertoire. The Szymanowski concerti will hopefully someday find their way out of the land of neglected works, as elucidated by discs like this.
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