Édouard Lalo - Piano Concerto; Concerto russe (Pierre-Alain Volondat; Jean-Jacques Kantorow)

Information

Composer: Édouard Lalo

1. Concerto russe, for violin & orchestra, Op. 29: I. Prelude - Allegro
2. Concerto russe, for violin & orchestra, Op. 29: II. Chants russes. Lento
3. Concerto russe, for violin & orchestra, Op. 29: III. Intermezzo. Allegro non troppo
4. Concerto russe, for violin & orchestra, Op. 29: IV. Introduction - Chants russes. Andante - Vivace
5. Romance-sérénade for violin & orchestra
6. Fantaisie-ballet for violin & orchestra (from ballet "Naumona")
7. Guitare in B minor, for violin & orchestra, Op. 28
8. Piano Concerto in F minor: I. Lento - Allegro
9. Piano Concerto in F minor: II. Lento
10. Piano Concerto in F minor: III. Allegro

Jean-Jacques Kantorow, violin (1-7)
Pierre-Alain Volondat, piano (8-10)
Tapiola Sinfonietta
Kees Bakels, conductor

Date: 2012
Label: BIS
http://bis.se/composer/lalo-edouard/concerto-russe-piano-concerto

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Review

With this second disc, BIS completes its recording of Lalo’s concertante violin works. Here once again is confirmation that Sarasate inspired writing geared towards his legendary virtuosity. A reciprocal arrangement, Lalo composed and Sarasate performed what were surely ideal gifts for his romantic showmanship – though he ignored the Concerto russe, causing the composer hurt and incomprehension.

Incomprehension because this ambitious four-movement work shows Lalo at his most scintillating and light-hearted rather than emulating a heavy Teutonic tradition. As in the Symphonie espagnole, there is a bias towards Spain, though there are authentic Russian melodies in the second and fourth movements. Lalo finds his most appealing form in the third-movement Intermezzo, and the Romance-Sérénade will delight all those who love high-flying romanticism. The Fantaisie-ballet(orchestrated by Pierné) was greatly admired in its first form by the notoriously critical Debussy and ends in dazzling and seductive style.

The Piano Concerto (recorded years ago by Orazio Frugoni) offered as a filler is, however, disappointing, its musing and poetic opening leading only to much rhetorical panting and puffing. The finale, too, is over-emphatic, though the entire work could hardly be played with greater assurance and affection than by Volondat (first-prize winner of the 1983 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels) and Jean-Jacques Kantorow’s brilliance evokes memories of Sarasate himself. The recordings are exemplary in sound and balance.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/Sept12/Lalo_PC_BISSACD1890.htm

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/aug/09/lalo-concertos-bakels-tapiola-review

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Édouard Lalo (27 January 1823 – 22 April 1892) was a French composer. Although Lalo is not one of the most immediately recognized names in French music, his distinctive style has earned him some degree of popularity. Lalo's music is notable for strong melodies and colourful orchestration, with a rather Germanic solidity that distinguishes him from other French composers of his era. His most celebrated piece is Symphonie espagnole, a popular work in the standard repertoire for violin and orchestra. His Symphony was a favorite of Thomas Beecham, while his Cello Concerto is also revived now and then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard_Lalo

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Pierre-Alain Volondat (born 28 July 1962, in Vouzon (Loir-et-Cher) is a French pianist and composer. He studied at the Orleans Conservatoire and the Conservatoire National Superior de Musique in Paris. In 1982 he won the Queen Fabiola prize and the Audience prize at the Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians Competition. He has since enjoyed a concert career that has taken him through Europe and to the Far East, mainly in Belgium, France and Japan. His repertory ranges from Bach to Xenakis.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Alain_Volondat

http://www.naxos.com/person/Pierre_Alain_Volondat/791.htm

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Jean-Jacques Kantorow (born 3 October 1945 in Cannes) is a French violin virtuoso and conductor. In the 1960s he won ten major international prizes, including first prizes in the Carl Flesch Competition (London), the (Genoa) Paganini Competition, and the Geneva International Competition. Since the 1970s he has been noted for his solo performances in a very wide range of repertoire, and as a chamber music performer. His recordings have won many awards. He plays a Stradivarius attributed violin, the ‘ex-Leopold Auer’, dated 1699. In the 1980s he began a separate career as conductor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Kantorow

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