Barber • Bruch Barber: Violin Concerto; Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor; Adagio appassionato Op. 57; Vieuxtemps: Souvenir d’Amerique – Variations on Yankee Doodle, Op. 17 Esther Yoo (violin); Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko DG 485 8466 63:03 mins
One of the first things to strike one about this fine recording is its exquisite attention to the lower end of the dynamic spectrum. The opening recitativos of the Bruch No. 1 in G minor find violinist Esther Yoo magicking those well-worn phrases with yearning intensity and a sense of introspective awe. Then, as the movement proper gets underway, Vasily Petrenko rightly plays down the cello and bass pizzicatos to a true piano un poco marcato – comparison with Isaac Stern’s music-in-meltdown classic with Eugene Ormandy (CBS/Sony) finds the ‘fabulous’ Philadelphian lower strings relishing those ominous descending minor thirds with full-throttle forte abandonment.
Similarly, Yoo floats the aching phrases of the slow movement with a moving tendresse that subtly pulls the listener into a magical world of half-whispered correspondences, whereas Stern at his most incandescent plays every note with a pulsating longing that exerts irresistible pressure on the tear ducts. Interestingly, in the Adagio appassionato, comparison with Salvatore Accardo (Philips/Decca) reverses the situation, in that it is the Italian (with the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Kurt Masur) who is the more introspectively inclined, whereas here Yoo is at her most emotionally compelling, imparting a heart-warming radiance to this neglected gem that is utterly captivating.
In the Barber Concerto, Stern (with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic for CBS/Sony) is overwhelmingly charismatic, whereas Yoo is more poetically resourceful and thoughtful, making the work feel more emotionally wide-ranging than usual – and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra play for their new music director with glowing finesse and suppleness, combined with nimble virtuosity in the finale.
Yoo finally really lets her hair down in the Vieuxtemps Variations on Yankee Doodle with some deliciously indulgent portamentos, although in the last resort it is Itzhak Perlman (in the piano version with Samuel Sanders for EMI/Warner) who really sets the pulse racing.
Julian Haylock
