The Romantic Violin Concerto - 16

FERRUCCIO BUSONI (1866-1924): Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35a, Benedictus from Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Op. 123 for Violin and Orchestra (World Premiere Recording), RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949): Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 8.

Description: Busoni's youthful concerto has perhaps been unfairly neglected because overshadowed by his monumental piano concerto. This is a little unfair, as the piece is an attractive standard specimen of the romantic virtuoso vehicle genre, which can appropriately keep company with Mendelssohn, say, or Tchaikovsky, though a few unexpected harmonic turns and the pezzo serioso character of the 'slow movement' section of the tripartite single span point, with the gift of hindsight, to where the young composer would shortly go as his style matured. The Beethoven transcription, as one would expect of this master transcriber, is an entirely convincing piece in its own right, which one would never suspect of being an arrangement were one not familiar with the original. Busoni constructs a solo line by dovetailing Beethoven's violin obbligato with melody drawn from the vocal soloists, enlisting other solo instruments when the counterpoint demands it, while his re-orchestration preserves the gentle textures of the original, redistributing the choral sonorities among the orchestra when necessary. Tanja Becker-Bender (violin), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Garry Walker.