Admirers of Laurent
Korcia will realise that this is a case
of repackaging, not a new release. That
makes sense with regard to the Bacri,
which was originally issued on RCA New
CD, a twenty-three minute single. Otherwise
we have an extracted single movement
from the Fauré sonata, which
originally appeared on RCA, coupled
with the Franck and the Debussy-Heifetz
arrangement, as well as other examples
of his way with predominately Franco-Belgian
material. There’s been some shuffling
of the pack for this French-language
only release, a sort of Highlights Plus
and one that advertises Korcia’s credentials
in some emotive and lyric repertoire.
His Nigun is more reminiscent
of Grumiaux’s
aristocracy of utterance than the young
Menuhin’s oratorical Hebraic fervour.
The Ballade from Janáček’s Sonata
is strongly coloured and tends to the
suave, rather lacking Josef Suk’s sense
of repose; if you like juicy intensity
however you’ll be titillated
by the rather over-sophisticated gradient
of Korcia’s playing. The booklet information
is rather spare about the Bartók/Szekely
(see my head note for fuller details);
In Pe Loc Korcia is tonally much
nearer Ida Haendel than Grumiaux – eerily
so in fact - though he’s faster than
Haendel. Ysaÿe’s Rêve d’enfant
has been sparsely recorded over the
years – though it received a recording
or two during the composer’s lifetime
– and it always makes for pleasurable
hearing in sympathetic hands. The Fauré
has some expressive and individual touches
such as occasional non-synchronous piano
chording for one and the Chausson is
nicely emotive. The Chaminade isn’t
really convincing; the natural rhythm
eludes Korcia and Luisada and the emulation
of Kreislerian style (it’s his famous
arrangement) is only approximate. Lending
an ear to Kreisler’s acoustic recording
might have pointed them towards how
it might better be done. It’s arguable
that Heifetz over vibrated in his own
recordings of his arrangement of Debussy’s
Beau Soir – but this is
not something Korcia does in his own
affectionate reading. Bacri’s Une
Prière is the body of the
disc, a powerful threnody "in memory
of the Jewish Martyrs of all time."
The lines are long-limbed and the soloist
spins an appropriately intense course
between decorative writing and core
oratory. The work is tracked in eight
sections so it makes following the structure
of this well argued concertante piece
that much easier. Defiant and also intense
the ending, after the intensely vibrated
Scherzo that contains the second mini
cadenza, comes as consolation.
The Bacri is obviously
a powerful work and one both tonal and
broodingly lyric. The rest of the recital
is more for Korcia’s admirers, of whom
there are an increasing number.
Jonathan Woolf
Laurent Korcia (violin) 
