Vilde Frang, Jonathan Cohen - Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos 1, 5 & Sinfonia concertante (2015)

×

Vilde Frang, Jonathan Cohen - Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos 1, 5 & Sinfonia concertante (2015)

Close

Following the success of her discs of Romantic and Late Romantic repertoire, Vilde Frang has recorded Mozart’s Concertos Nos. 1 and 5 ‘Turkish’ and the Sinfonia Concertante K364, enabling music lovers to hear the Norwegian violinist perform Classical repertoire on disc for the first time. The impetus for this album was a 2012 orchestral tour of Asia conducted by Jonathan Cohen in which Vilde performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5. The vibrancy of their musical collaboration was something both artists were keen to repeat and commit to disc. Jonathan’s Cohen’s chamber orchestra, Arcangelo, proved the ideal partner, joined by violist Maxim Rysanov in the Sinfonia Concertante.
Today we tend to think of Mozart as a keyboard virtuoso but he was also an accomplished violinist. Indeed, in 1769, aged 13, he was appointed honorary concertmaster of the Salzburg Court Orchestra. For many years, it was believed that Mozart composed all five of his violin concertos in 1775, but analysis of handwriting and of the manuscript paper suggests the actual date of the first concerto, K207, was 1773. Filled with brilliant passage work, it is generally characterised by high spirits and is filled with dazzling semiquaver and demisemiquaver passages reflecting the influence of such Baroque Italian virtuosi and composers as Pietro Nardini, Pietro Locatelli and Gaetano Pugnani.
Each of Mozart’s subsequent violin concertos, all composed in 1775, is longer and on a larger scale than the preceding one. By the fifth and last, he had created a work still clearly within the Classical concerto tradition yet, in terms of both length and technical demands, approaching the instrumental concertos of the century to come. The Concerto No. 5 K219 is often referred to as the “Turkish” because of its frenzied Allegro section in the middle of the final movement.
Mozart was experimenting with the cross-over form between symphony and concerto during a tour of Europe in 1779. The result was his Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola, composed in Salzburg that same year and probably the greatest of his concertante works. The eminent musicologist Alfred Einstein called it Mozart’s “crowning achievement in the field of the violin concerto” and added that, “Every trace of galanterie has disappeared” to be replaced by the “revelation of the deepest feeling.”
Vilde Frang, born in Norway in 1986, has established herself as one of the leading violinists of her generation, in demand for her musicianship and virtuosity and notable for her thoughtful interpretations and natural sense of style. Since her appearance with Mariss Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic when she was twelve years old, her career has developed organically and on her own terms. She has appeared on the world’s leading concert stages with the most prestigious orchestras under the batons of the most admired conductors, as well as in recital and chamber music with such colleagues as Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Martha Argerich, Janine Jansen, Leif Ove Andsnes and Maxim Vengerov. With her mentor Anne-Sophie Mutter, she has toured Europe and the U.S. in Bach’s Double Concerto. In 2012 Vilde was chosen to receive the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award, which sponsored her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic under Bernard Haitink at the 2012 Lucerne Summer Music Festival. Her recordings of concertos by Sibelius, Prokofiev, Nielsen and Tchaikovsky and sonatas by Grieg, R. Strauss and Bartók for EMI Classics, now Warner Classics, won Edison Klassiek and Classic BRIT awards, the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, the Diapason d’Or and a Gramophone Award nomination. Vilde’s 2014/2015 season includes many performances of Mozart concertos.
Under its founder, artistic director and conductor Jonathan Cohen, Arcangelo brings together exceptional musicians who excel on both historical and modern instruments and have a passion for faithful interpretation. Its members, many with flourishing solo and chamber music careers, value the collaboration required of chamber music as the highest expression of music making. Since its formation in 2010, Arcangelo has made a dramatic impact on the musical scene and has already recorded half a dozen albums to high acclaim, including a Gramophone award.
Violist Maxim Rysanov was born in the Ukraine and studied there and at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Winner of the 2008 Classic FM Gramophone Young Artist of the Year award and a former BBC New Generation Artist, he performs widely in Europe, Asia and America. His chamber music partners include Leif Ove Andsnes, Nicola Benedetti, Martin Fröst, Sol Gabetta, Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky, Victoria Mullova, Vadim Repin and Maxim Vengerov. Through collaborations with such composers as Dobrinka Tabakova, Richard Dubugnon and Valentin Bibik – and many others – he has helped to extend the repertoire for the viola.

Composer:  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:  Vilde Frang,  Maxim Rysanov
Conductor:  Jonathan Cohen
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Arcangelo

Reviews: Following a number of recordings of Romantic repertoire on Warner Classics, Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang turns her attention from Prokofiev and Sibelius and Tchaikovsky and Nielsen to Mozart. Accompanying is the impressive chamber orchestra Arcangelo directed by Jonathan Cohen, its founder and artistic director. Cohen informs me that Arcangelo play using aspects of period performance practice. Gut strings are fitted and natural horns are included in the complement even if modern oboes are used. Soloists Frang and Maxim Rysanov play instruments fitted with modern strings and set-ups.

All five of Mozart’s violin concertos were written during his extremely difficult period in the employment of Archbishop Colloredo of Salzburg. As well as a keyboard virtuoso Mozart was an accomplished violinist. It is not certain whether the set was intended for his own use or for the Salzburg Court Orchestra whose leader was Antonio Brunetti. For many years it was generally acknowledged that Mozart had composed all five violin concertos in 1775 aged nineteen. It is now thought that Mozart wrote the Violin Concerto No. 1, K207 as early as 1773 when he was just seventeen.

The opening score here is the Violin Concerto No. 1, a work alive with an abundance of melody. Frang’s effortless control and calm assurance complements Mozart’s lyrical invention. Meltingly beautiful in the Adagio Frang’s playing has a golden tone. As for the Finale it feels both fresh and colourful as it gallops along with abandon.

Throughout the opening movement of the Violin Concerto No. 5 one notices Frang’s bold, confident playing and intensity of expression. She brings crystalline quality to the near meditative slow movement. Especially enjoyable is the stately final Rondeau which includes a vivacious Turkish section that lends the score its nickname.

There are a considerable number of Mozart’s Violin Concertos in the catalogues. Complete sets often include the Sinfonia concertante, K364. My first choice is played on period instruments by renowned baroque violinist Giuliano Carmignola. His controlled and stylish interpretations also boast vitality and freshness. Carmignola is supported by the experience and sensitivity of Claudio Abbado and his Orchestra Mozart. Carmignola is paired with violist Danusha Waskiewicz. The set was recorded in 2007 at Salone Bolognini, Bologna by Archiv Production (Deutsche Grammophon). Of the modern instrument performances my unequivocal first choice is Arthur Grumiaux and the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis. The set includes an assured account of K364 in which with Grumiaux is paired with Arrigo Pellicia. Recorded in London in 1961/64 the excellent ADD transfers sound splendid on Philips Classics.

Frang concludes the present release with the Sinfonia concertante. Mozart, who was proficient on both violin and viola, composed the score in Salzburg during the summer of 1779. The origins of the substantial three movement E flat major score are vague, although, it may have been intended for performance by Salzburg Court Orchestra members Antonio Brunetti and Joseph Hafeneder. The substantial opening movement marked Allegro maestoso is rather symphonic in its ambitions. With mutual understanding Frang and Rysanov revel in the bittersweet writing. This is glorious playing and cleanly articulated. Profound introspection imbues the Andante played with captivating accomplishment by the duo. The vibrant closing Presto has a joyous quality displaying impressive interplay between the two soloists.

Of the alternative accounts of the Sinfonia concertante it is hard to fault the sensitive and assured 2006 Lausanne recording from Maxim Vengerov and Lawrence Power on EMI Classics. Another leading account is the characterful performance from Rafael Druian and Abraham Skernick with Members of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. This evergreen 1963 recording was made in Cleveland, USA and can be heard on Sony. I also admire the stylish and confident account from Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta. This was recorded live at the 1982 Huberman Festival for Deutsche Grammophon.

This splendidly recorded Warner Classics release has satisfying clarity and balance. With rock-steady intonation and gorgeously pure tone Frang plays with real accomplishment. The orchestral contribution is outstanding and sustains its focus splendidly. Although I own a considerable number of recordings of the Mozart Violin Concertos and Sinfonia concertante I will certainly be reaching regularly for this outstanding disc. My only regret is that Frang and Arcangelo did not include Mozart’s remaining three violin concertos to complete the set. Perhaps a volume 2?