Thursday 15 October 2009

Against the oddds, I find myself enjoying Renaud Capuçon's new CD very much indeed. The tempi in the Korngold violin concerto and the Beethoven violin concerto are all slow -- with little exception. Not usually favoured by me. And Capuçon's tone is unfailingly sweet -- a kind of 1909 Kreisler mixed with Heifetz mixed with Itzhak Perlman. Not usually favoured by me. But Capuçon convinces in both works -- how, I don't really know. He plays so well, he sounds so lovely, he is so intelligent. I will re-listen to these works. In the Beethoven he plays the inevitable Kreisler cadenzas, even though there are plenty of alternatives. The Rotterdam Philharmonic under Yannick Nézet-Séguin sounds almost like the Vienna Philharmonic. Perhaps it's all a trick of the recording engineers. Whatever: a good disc.

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