Britten: Piano Concerto / Violin Concerto, Opp. 13,15

List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $5.04
You Save: $4.94 (49%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.28 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details

CD Details

Music reviews of Britten: Piano Concerto / Violin Concerto, Opp. 13,15

Music Review: POSTERITY SPEAKS
Rating: 5 Stars

These two concertos were written in the 1930's within a short space of each other, the piano concerto being the earlier. Britten himself was soloist in the piano concerto's first performance, but the work lapsed into comparative oblivion before it was rescued several decades later by no less than Sviatoslav Richter. This is really the Richter of the familiar rave-notices this time. He seems to me to have had several quite distinct personalities as an interpreter and even indeed purely as a player, and this performance displays some of the sides of him that I personally like best. The virtuosity is cool and effortless (it is a particularly awkward solo part) with some wonderful shades of silver in his tone. Britten himself is in charge of the ECO who are on excellent form, and his highly individual orchestral sound is caught with striking vividness and effectiveness -hardly a matter of any surprise of course. The work itself appeals to me enormously, Britten being a composer I particularly like. This performance is going to be a hard act to follow, but I hope it arouses interest in a comparatively neglected work rather than frightening `competitors' off. If you like Britten in general, I would say you are going to enjoy this. If you do not respond to this performance, I guess the work is not for you.

I happen to have another performance of the violin concerto with Rodney Friend as soloist and the LPO under Pritchard. It does not seem to be in the current catalogues, but at least it gave me a point of comparison for Lubotsky's version, which I have no hesitation in describing as distinctly the better of the two. The difference for me is a matter of sheer `quality' - quality of tone, quality of rhythm, quality of intonation. There is a more `intense' feel to this work, particularly in the last movement, another of Britten's much-loved passacaglias (the Impromptu movement from the piano concerto being yet another). Britten is in charge of the ECO again, with predictably excellent results.

The recorded quality may or may not be to your liking. It is very much to mine. The volume level is on the low side, but that is easily remedied by turning up the control. It is extremely clear, though some may find it lacking in warmth. Horses for courses, I say. This is Britten not Brahms, and I like even the violin concerto recorded this way, and the piano concerto even more so. This is a disc I would describe as really outstanding, and now that we have turned over a new year I should like to commend it to a long posterity.

Description of Britten: Piano Concerto / Violin Concerto, Opp. 13,15

Classical CDs

• Music > Styles