Vilde Frang - Britten Korngold Violin Concertos - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The Beethoven concerto is a piece of overwhelming power,Inch says violinist Vilde Frang. InchIt is somehow more than music - the dimension of it feels almost cosmic. The force of this concerto takes me by surprise, over and over again.Inch Frang juxtaposes Beethoven's epic, lyrical work with Stravinsky's compact violin concerto, which pays spiky tribute to 18th century models. The conductor is Pekka Kuusisto, himself an adventurous violinist, in his role as Artistic Best Friend of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. InchIt was the chamber musical qualities of the Beethoven concerto that provided the key for me,Inch says Frang. InchThe violin is constantly 'feeding' and playing around the orchestra... In it's own way, the Stravinsky too engages the soloist in a constant dialogue with the orchestra. With Pekka Kuusisto and the Bremen players, I really feel in such a comfort zone... There is a feeling of having everything to gain by gathering together, coming together.

Vilde Frang, partnered by pianist Michael Lifits, has assembled a programme that juxtaposes music by two violinist-composers of the early 19th century, Franz Schubert and Niccolò Paganini. While they lived vastly different lives and inhabited diverse aesthetic worlds, there are links to be found between them. Through the juxtaposition, Frang wants to highlight Schubert's capacity for virtuosity and Paganini's musicality and sensitivity. InchIt's the contrasts that appeal to me,Inch she says. For her, the key connection between Schubert and Paganini is the inspiration they both found in the human voice. The album includes variations that Paganini wrote on themes from operas by Rossini (Tancredi) and Paisiello (La molinara), and the 'grand caprice' that the violinist Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst - considered Paganini's greatest successor - based on one of Schubert's most thrilling songs, Erlkönig. It sets a poem by Goethe that tells of a frantic night-time horse-ride by a father and his young son, who is tempted by a wicked spirit, the Erlking. When they reach their destination, the child is dead. InchThis Erlkönig is a gift to the violinist. There is such precision and accuracy in Ernst's transcription - it works so well that it sounds like it was written for the violin. And then there is the challenge of characterising the galloping horse, the father, the son and the Erlkönig himself.Inch

Vilde Frang InchI have wanted to record this concerto for a long time, and Elgar actually has been a very late discovery for me, the Violin Concerto. But it didn't take me a long time to become a very passionate ambassador for this piece. And I really feel that the of this piece is such a vast piece of music and it's more on the symphonic scale than a violin concerto to me, which is why I take immense pleasure in playing this concerto.Inch The reviews of Vilde's recent Elgar concert performances have been outstanding, media writing about a 'remarkable performance bringing out Elgar's extraordinary beauty'.