MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


 REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: Crotchet

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Violin Concerto No. 1 in B flat major K207 (1775) [20:07]
Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major K216 (1775) [22:29]
Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major for violin, viola and orchestra K364 (1779) [29:56]
Renaud Capuçon (violin); Antoine Tamesitt (viola)
Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Louis Langrée
rec. 17-20 September 2007, Perth Concert Hall, Scotland.
VIRGIN CLASSICS 5021122 [72:56]
Experience Classicsonline

I’ve not been as enthusiastic an admirer of the Brothers Capuçon as some in the critical fraternity but this release by Renaud Capuçon is attractive. There have been some parlous recordings of K364 in recent times - the Vengerov/Power, for example, was a casualty of the former’s metrical eccentricities - but when musicians are attuned, expressively and tonally, then things can turn out well.

There is here none of the drooping insistence that marred that earlier recording. Instead we have a lithe modern instrument chamber sized performance led by a conductor - as Vengerov’s should have been - whose views are in close accord with the two soloists. The wind writing is pencilled in adeptly, the horn harmonies are not muddied, the lower strings articulate cleanly, and the Mannheim crescendo gathers unstoppable pace and here and there the two soloists - Antoine Tamesitt is the accomplished violist - play with well calibrated rubati. Once or twice - this is a matter of taste - I found those stretchy rubatos just a shade overdone but it’s a moot point as to whether you consider this mannered. The slow movement has a discreet expressivity; it’s not over emoted but its more tragic depths and implications are not entirely elided either, though things remain slightly on the cool side. I liked the way the urgent orchestral string staccati animate the finale and the way the soloists’s accents nudge the music still forward. Do I detect that Tamesitt locates something close to explicit desperation in the closing pages before the resurgent end? He certainly draws out some fluctuating emotional responses throughout in a way that makes one think.

The G major concerto is the principal companion, the earlier B flat major being a lesser work. The Third Concerto here receives a reading of interesting emphasis, especially orchestrally speaking, There are some trenchant unison orchestral attacks, and a strong bass line, though maybe that’s to do with mike placement; it could hardly be to do with numbers. In general I find the recording somewhat problematic for this reason. Capuçon is an elegant soloist, making no outsize gestures, though he does espouse the cadenzas of Robert Levin. That for the first movement overdoes the ‘pathetic’ element I think and the slow movement is too self consciously elliptical for my tastes. If it ain’t broke, gentlemen …

Still the soloist gives us some highly diverting leaps in the finale as well as pronounced dynamic variance in the central movement. Levin’s cadenzas in the First concerto are altogether less contentious. I genuinely like the aria-like pointing in the slow movement - Louis Langrée seemingly having something of a gift for subtly altering one’s perceptions without injuring the conception of a work. There’s some dashing and fast bowing in this concerto’s finale.

The band has a track record on disc with Mozart concertos, having partnered violinist Oscar Shumsky, and in K364 his son Eric.

These are enjoyable, thought-provoking performances, played with assurance and estimable ensemble virtues. Limitations are the recording and a generally on-the-cool-side approach.  
Jonathan Woolf

see also review by Kevin Sutton
(June 2009 Recording of the Month) 


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index