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Saturday, January 21, 2017

Alan Rawsthorne - Violin Concertos (Rebecca Hirsch)


Information

Composer: Alan Rawsthorne
  1. Fantasy Overture: Cortèges
  2. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1: I. Adagio espressivo e rubato - Andante con moto, poco teneramente
  3. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1: II. Andante (l'istesso tempo) - Allegro - Allegro Moderato
  4. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2: I. Allegretto
  5. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2: II. Poco lento
  6. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2: III. Tema con Variazioni

Rebecca Hirsch, violin
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Lionel Friend, conductor

Date: 1998
Label: Naxos
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.554240

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Review

Be honest now: who could possibly have foreseen that we would have had rival budget versions of both Rawsthorne violin concertos appearing within almost a year of each other? Valuable as that earlier BBC Radio Classics anthology remains, enthusiasts should waste no time in snapping up this new Naxos CD, containing as it does music-making of perceptive dedication and impressive polish.

Rawsthorne completed his First Violin Concerto in 1947, dedicating the score to Walton (listen for the tongue-in-cheek quotation from Belshazzar’s Feast just before the end). Cast in just two movements, it is a lyrically affecting, creation that weaves quite a spell, especially in a performance as dignified and consistently purposeful as the present one. However, the revelation (for this listener, at any rate) comes with the Second Concerto of 1956. Pleasing as the 1968 Parikian/Schwarz broadcast account undoubtedly is, Rebecca Hirsch and Lionel Friend locate a deceptive urgency and symphonic thrust in the opening Allegretto that genuinely compel. If anything, the succeeding Poco lento wears an even more anguished, nervy demeanour, the music’s questing mood very well conveyed. By contrast, the finale (a theme and variations) proceeds in serene, almost carefree fashion, its witty coda forming a delightfully unbuttoned conclusion to a genuinely striking, much-underrated work.

As a curtain-raiser, Naxos give us the fantasy overture, Corteges. Commissioned by the BBC and premiered at the 1945 Proms by the LSO under Basil Cameron, it is an approachable, well-wrought essay, pitting an eloquent Adagio processional (“wistfully expressive rather than tragic in tone”, as annotator Sebastian Forbes astutely observes) against an irrepressible Allegro molto vivace tarantella (echoes here of Rawsthorne’s own exuberant Street Corner Overture from the previous year). The composer develops his material with customary skill, and Friend draws a committed and alert response from the BBC Scottish SO (who seem to enjoy the experience hugely).

Boasting a spacious, bright and admirably balanced sound picture (no attempt to spotlight the soloist), here is an enormously rewarding issue as well as a bargain of the first order. Encouragingly, there’s more Rawsthorne in the Naxos pipeline.

-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/may99/rawsth2.htm
http://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.554240&languageid=EN
https://www.amazon.com/Rawsthorne-Concertos-Fantasy-Overture-Cort%C3%A8ges/dp/B000009CJN

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Alan Rawsthorne (2 May 1905 – 24 July 1971) was a British composer. He studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music with Frank Merrick and Carl Fuchs, then with Egon Petri at Zakopane in Poland, and briefly in Berlin, too. His large scale Symphonic Studies (1939) helped Rawsthorne establish himself as a composer possessing a highly distinctive musical voice. Other acclaimed works by Rawsthorne include a viola sonata, 2 piano concertos, an oboe concerto, 2 violin concertos, a concerto for string orchestra, the Elegy for guitar, a cello concerto, 3 string quartets and 3 symphonies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Rawsthorne

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The violinist Rebecca Hirsch is regarded as among the foremost interpreters in twentieth century music. She appears regularly as a soloist in Britain and throughout Europe, with orchestras including the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, the Philharmonia, the Ulster Orchestra, and the BBC Concert, Philharmonic and Scottish Orchestras among many others. She records regularly for Da Capo and Naxos, and two of her recordings were nominated for the Gramophone’s Best Record of the Year Award.
http://www.naxos.com/person/Rebecca_Hirsch/303.htm

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10 comments:

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  3. Neither LinkShrink links listed above "exist"

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  5. Hi, could you post a new link for this one as well? Thank you

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  6. Choose one link, copy and paste it to your browser's address bar, wait a few seconds (you may need to click 'Continue' first), then click 'Free Access with Ads' / 'Get link'. Complete the steps / captchas if require.
    Guide for Linkvertise: 'Free Access with Ads' --> 'I'm interested' --> 'Search for ...' --> close the newly open tab/window, then wait for a few seconds --> 'Get Website'

    https://direct-link.net/610926/rawsthorne-vconcertos
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