Souvenirs
Ravel: Tzigane; Tchaikovsky: Souvenir d’un lieu cher; Saint-Saëns: Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso; Waxman: Carmen Fantasy; plus works by Falla, Kreisler, Maier and Massenet
Johan Dalene (violin), Peter Friis Johansson (piano)
BIS BIS-2770 67:53 mins
Clip: Massenet: Méditation from ‘Thaïs (Johan Dalene and Peter Friis Johansson)
Here’s an archetypal recital programme which every emerging violin virtuoso would dream of recording, though few recent contenders have done so with such unerring assurance and mastery as Johan Dalene.
His partnership with Peter Friis Johansson yields one of the most satisfying instrumental releases I’ve considered for some time, and it’s gratifying to be able to offer it an unqualified welcome here.
Dalene’s playing always commands attention in the concert hall, and he proves similarly persuasive on album, beginning with an arresting account of Ravel’s fearsomely difficult Tzigane, which comfortably surmounts every coruscating violinistic effect that this warhorse demands.
Equally gripping is his account of the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Saint-Saëns, where the coda’s unrelenting arpeggiated writing is delivered with notable ease.
Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d’un lieu cher (a slighter foil to his violin concerto) calls for understatement and introspection rather than virtuosity for its own sake, and these players evoke its over-arching nostalgia to moving effect, while it’s equally pleasing to hear Massenet’s perennial Méditation also accorded the gravitas it truly deserves.
The Kreisler and Waxman works, too, are dazzlingly played, with Amanda Maier’s taxing Allegro molto making an attractive if unfamiliar filler. A superb issue which can only bode well for the future of this exceptional young fiddler. Highly recommended. Michael Jameson