Notes and Editorial Reviews
In today’s ever noisier musical world, there are plenty of violinists possessing the qualities – bombproof technique, powerful weight of tone, insistent projection, relentless reliability – that are required for a major career. Every so often, one comes along who also has something more important: the capacity to draw the listener in as well as to impress, with characterisation skills to match. This young Latvian player has all this, and then some.
Baiba Skride’s way with Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto confirms it as masterpiece of grace, charm, and scintillating joie de vivre to go with all the fabled and incisive invention; and the intricate solo-and-ensemble interplay is captured in a beautifully balanced recording. As so
Read more
often with Switzerland’s Frank Martin, his Violin Concerto of 1951 serves notice that this was one of the last century’s most underrated composers; Skride engages happily with the music’s beguiling range of light and shade and quietly insistent invention. In both works, Thierry Fischer and the orchestra offer stylish accompaniments. Generous fill-ups, too: the orchestra has plenty of fun with Honegger’s tricksy musical sound-pictures and the antics of Stravinsky’s Circus Polka (written for a cast of 50 elephants and 50 ballerinas).
– BBC Music Magazine 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
Customer Reviews
Be the first to review this title
Review This Title