Notes and Editorial Reviews
STRAVINSKY Violin Concerto. Circus Polka. HONEGGER Pacific 231. Rugby. MARTIN Violin Concerto • Baiba Skride (vn); Thierry Fischer, cond; BBC NO of Wales • ORFEO 849 121 (75: 31)
When Isaac Stern’s recording of Igor Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto (with the composer conducting the Columbia Symphony Orchestra) first appeared half a century ago, critics suggested that the violinist’s
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approach seemed all wrong by comparison with that of a sharper-edged violinist like Zino Francescatti (or, perhaps, Ivry Gitlis). Orfeo’s squeaky-clean recorded sound may help sharpen the focus of Baiba Skride’s reading with Thierry Fischer conducting the National Orchestra of Wales; but she cuts and slashes as well, although she doesn’t seem at all so quirky as did Gitlis. Kyung-Wha Chung played the work with electric intensity in her LP recording; in the finale’s coda she took listeners on a thrilling trip through Jurassic Park. Skride seems mild-mannered, though wielding a sharp machete, in the first movement and fuses the aggression with winning lyricism in the second; Fischer and the ensemble impart a strong fillip to the jagged orchestral rhythms of its middle section. Skride almost gives the impression of improvisation in the aria-like third movement, drawing a reedy tone from the upper registers—and a commandingly rich one from the lower ones—of the late-1734 Baron Feilitzsch Stradivari. She and Fischer allow the movement to spin down before the opening chords and first section return with revealing transparency at the end. They open the finale with an explosion of energy and a razor-sharp statement of the violin’s repeated-note theme that recalls Gitlis’s. They strike sparks in the finale but don’t quite reach the white heat of Chung’s performance. Overall, though, it’s a bracing reading that any of the concerto’s admirers should want to add to their collections, no matter how rich in alternatives.
Arthur Honegger’s two almost programmatic symphonic movements, Pacific 231 and Rugby, receive sharply clanging (in the first) and rambunctious (although with relieving melodiousness, in the second) performances, respectively, from Fischer and the ensemble. The first movement of Frank Martin’s almost 33-minute Violin Concerto, by turns pixilated and rhapsodic in contrasting manners that remain on the fringe of tonal harmony, provides Skride and Fischer an opportunity to make almost flamboyant rhetorical statements (Skride’s imposing in the extended and technically challenging cadenza) as well as more restrained, transparent intimations, between both of which affects they shift easily and convincingly. In the slow movement, Skride plays the purity of her silvery upper registers in fey, insinuating passages, against the throaty lower ones in more ardent utterances. Fischer whips the orchestra up to bracing climaxes in the movement’s last minutes before winding down to the conclusion. As did the first movement, the third mixes the pixyish with sturdier asseveration; and Skride shows herself able to fuse these divergent manners into a coherent performance, technically acute and tonally captivating. Michael Erxleben’s tone in his reading of the concerto on MDG 901 1280-6, Fanfare 29:1, strikes me as equally fine-spun, but Skride seems to explore more thoroughly the first movement’s mercurial changes in mood. The concert ends with a genially quirky performance of Stravinsky’s genial, quirky Circus Polka, which he wrote for Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, and which ends in a boisterous and unanticipated reference (not altogether comic in its effect) to Franz Schubert’s Marche militaire.
The performers’ melding of keen swordsmanship with beguiling textures and smooth lyricism throughout should lend their performances a strong appeal both to those familiar with the repertoire and to those willing to explore. Strongly recommended, in fact, to all kinds of listeners and collectors.
FANFARE: Robert Maxham --------
Latvian violinist Baiba Skride comes from a musical family, her sisters Lauma and Linda are a pianist and violist. She has played in concerts internationally and currently resides in Germany. This release reflects her varied tastes with the imaginative Stravinsky violin concerto and the soulful, rare concerto by Frank Martin. Thierry Fischer also leads the excellent BBC National Orchestra of Wales in two striking pieces by Arthur Honegger, Rugby and Pacific 231. It is very refreshing to be able to hear new performances of these pieces, Rugby vividly describing in music the dynamism, give and take and athleticism of a wild rugby match, and Pacific 231 equally capturing the power of a locomotive in motion through the countryside. Skride's insightful performances and the colorful orchestral works are capped off by Strivinsky's 'elephant ballet', the Circus Polka. An album you'll return too.
- Greg La Traille, ArkivMusic.com Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Concerto for Violin in D major by Igor Stravinsky
Performer:
Baiba Skride (Violin)
Conductor:
Thierry Fischer
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1931; France
2.
Circus Polka by Igor Stravinsky
Conductor:
Thierry Fischer
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1942; USA
3.
Concerto for Violin by Frank Martin
Performer:
Baiba Skride (Violin)
Conductor:
Thierry Fischer
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1950-1951; Switzerland
4.
Mouvement symphoniques (3): no 2, Rugby by Arthur Honegger
Conductor:
Thierry Fischer
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Period: 20th Century
5.
Mouvement symphoniques (3): no 1, Pacific 231 by Arthur Honegger
Conductor:
Thierry Fischer
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Period: 20th Century
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