35-year old Isabelle Faust has quietly been asserting herself as one of the finest of what seems like a million new young female violinists on the current scene. Born in Esslingen, Germany, she has quickly established her credentials in music of more modern vintage, like her prize-winning Bartok sonatas also on Harmonia mundi. I have not deemed her playing as wildly-eccentric as what we often hear from the younger crowd these days, vying with one another to make their mark both in the public eye and in the marketing department flyers, yet she plays with such an assured authority and intelligence that seems to come bouncing from the speakers into whatever part of the brain suggests to us that an interpretation is “just right”.
This is certainly the case in this new release, where her Chausson Poeme enters a field of staggeringly competitive reflux; almost every great violinist has taken a turn at this unusual, poetic, yet sometimes misplaced piece that alternately tells a story of passion and then calculating obsession. Based on the Turgenev poem, ‘The Song of Love Triumphant’, this theme was part of an opera that the composer worked into his Poeme, and its five sections stick pretty closely to this story of rivalry over a woman. We usually don’t hear it that way, preferring to just luxuriate in the gorgeous, swelled harmonies the composer provides, and Faust most certainly doesn’t let us down here. My favorite has been an old EMI recording with Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg. But this one will definitely make me rethink that choice. Name your favorite violinist and there is certainly a Poeme to go along with him/her; but this one is definitely competitive.
The Jolivet, on the other hand, is a comparative rarity, its sharpness and pointed melodies not often able to ingratiate to the new listener on one, or even several hearings. Even so, it is well worth the effort, as his twelfth and last concerto—and one of his last works, completed just two years before his death—pays dividends that last forever. This work is one of cool emotion, yet provocative and inherently addictive temperament, the violin protagonist gripping us by the lapel and not letting loose until the story is told. A certain amount of commitment is needed before engaging this work, of being willing to listen attentively and with open ears for a full 40 minutes. But if you do—and believe me, the music is accessible, just a little esoteric—you are in for a wonderful discovery that will replay many repeated hearings.
Isabelle Faust knows this work as no other I have heard, and her interpretation thrusts itself to the forefront of the recorded catalog. Harmonia mundi gives her great sound, wide and robust, clean and beautifully balanced, while the orchestra sounds world class. Truthfully, only the cheesy total time (48 minutes—shameful!) kept me from giving this five stars.
— Steven Ritter
