A leading soloist, conductor and orchestra have come together to record Elgar's Violin Concerto for the latest release from the independent Onyx label, and the results are nothing less than enthralling.
Not only is it practically impossible to fault the performance from a technical point of view, the level of musicianship and interpretative imagination is extraordinarily high.
Now in his early thirties, the Canadian violinist James Ehnes has already taken the world by storm, including appearances with the LSO, the BBC SO, the RSNO and all the major American orchestras. His previous release of the Barber, Korngold and Walton Violin Concertos on the Onyx label was widely admired and became 'Record of the Week' in The Daily Telegraph. But this new recording takes him into a completely new realm. The strong technique, which was evident from the start, has now been ideally matched to a more deeply felt (though never ostentatious) performance style. Together with his natural musicianship, Ehnes seems to have a winning combination for this, one of Elgar's greatest masterpieces.
It helps that he's been paired with Sir Andrew Davis, one of the world's leading interpreters of the music of Elgar, and the Philharmonia Orchestra. The recording was taken live in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 17 and 20 May 2007 during the orchestra's exile from the Festival Hall and the level of intimacy in the QEH really enhances the performance, which is never emptily flashy.
Davis creates nothing short of poetry in the lengthy orchestral introduction to the first movement, immaculately rendered by the Philharmonia in unusually ardent form. From the moment of Ehnes' entry the violinist treats the music with a kind of rhapsodic spontaneity, neither afraid to pull the time around a little nor overindulgent in this respect. The quiet spaciousness of the solo exposition gives way to a fiery developmental section, concluding with a thrillingly precise descending chromatic scale. The procedure is repeated and the movement ends in bold certainty.
Gentle lyricism of the sort that people usually associate most closely with Elgar's musical personality characterises the second movement. Ehnes's relaxed phrasing matches the mood, while the sheer beauty of tone he creates on his 'Ex Marsick' Stradivarius of 1715 (loaned by the Fulton Collection) is what shines through the most in this movement. Onyx's engineers have worked wonders in capturing the intimacy of the violin sound, which allows Ehnes to scale down the volume and concentrate on minute details. The high harmonics here and double stopping in the finale are breathtaking. This is characteristic of a performer for whom the technical aspects of a piece never dominate musical expression.
Meanwhile, the third movement takes us to even greater heights. Eschewing the temptation to turn the piece into a mere showcase of bravado, Ehnes uses the tortured scales and arpeggios to make the music into a matter of life or death. Davis, too, ensures that drama and detail are the essence of the performance, balancing the woodwinds and brass very subtly with the strings so that there is no undue prominence of one instrumental timbre. Nevertheless, the violinist's formidable technique really does help to make this a spellbinding experience.
Filling out the recording to just over an hour is Elgar's Serenade for Strings, op.20. The Philharmonia's splendidly drilled string section revels in the challenge of the work, which receives a polished and bracing performance.
But without doubt the main attraction is James Ehnes' very special rendition of the Violin Concerto, a 'must have' for all serious collectors of romantic violin music.
To listen to excerpts from this CD, download it in MP3 format or for more information, visit Onyx's excellent website. Forthcoming releases from the label include an album of songs by Amanda Roocroft.