DVORAK: Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53; Romance in F Minor, Op. 11; SZYMANOWSKI: Violin Concerto No. 1, OP. 35 – Arabella Steinbacher, violin/Berlin Radio-Symphony Orchestra/Marek Janowski – PentaTone Classics SACD PTC5186 353, 71:44 ***** [Distr. by Naxos] :
The young virtuoso Arabella Steinbach (b. 1981) has chosen to express hers as an iconoclastic Romanticism, integrating the familiar violin staples of Antonin Dvorak with the First Concerto (1916) of Karol Szymanowski. This eerie piece, a cross between the expressive subjectivism of Bartok and the classically brittle world of Alban Berg, benefits from Steinbacher’s carefully studied approach, amplified by the marvelous 1716 “Booth” Stradivarius she plies to marvelous effect. The Szymanowski makes a perfect vehicle for the multichannel treatment it receives, the sonic separation between solo, string choir, and horns throwing the tensile unearthly melodic line into high relief in this one-movement creation that takes its erotic inspiration from Tadeusz Micinski’s poem “May Night.” The fantasia of the first movement yields to the virtuosic Vivace scherzando, tautly rhythmic and strident, yet imbued with an eerie lyricism, a Szymanowski trademark. The cadenza by Paul Kochanski flutters in the high registers, the tune a bit reminiscent of Saint-Saens from his Organ Symphony. The tympani, brass, and percussion sneak in under the radar, and the music surges with romantic mystery, just a step beyond Wagner and Scriabin. Diaphanous bird calls and echoes of the seductive forest close this exotic excursion of the mind, a violin concerto from inner spaces.
Lovely sonic separation marks the Steinbacher/Janowski realization of Dvorak’s F Minor Romance (1877), the composer’s own re-setting of a movement from his early string quartet in the same key. A lied of uncommon transparent power, the music enjoys the plangent sensibilities and tender ministrations of all participants. Does a figure or two derive from Massenet’s Meditation from Thais? The Concerto in A Minor (1882/83) enjoys the sonic splendor of the recording venue–the Haus des Rundfunks, Berlin in May 2009–the woodwinds and horns clearly distinct in the integrated mix between solo violin and orchestral tissue, Steinbacher’s striking poised tone redolent in the Bohemian flurries that evolve through Dvorak’s combination of rondo and sonata-form maneuvers. Janowski brings a decided German sensibility to the orchestral part, a large canvas rife with glamorous rhetoric, reminiscent of the classic reading by Eugen Jochum and in superior sonics. A silken Adagio ma non troppo –violin, French horn, and flute sharing top honors–leads to the A Major Finale: Allegro giocoso, all Slavonic dances and furiants in the most genial spirits and cross-rhythms, warm and full-blooded, especially in the D Minor episode.
An ardent homage to the diversity of the Slavic spirit, beautifully performed and recorded. A keeper.
— Gary Lemco
