Baiba Skride (violin), Ivan Vukčević (viola); ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien/Marin Alsop
Orfeo C220021 58:00 mins
When it comes to recordings of Britten’s Violin Concerto, Baiba Skride enters a crowded field, with many famous names jostling for position. She more than holds her own, spinning a generously singing line over the ostinato accompaniment after the quietly menacing percussion opening, and moving seamlessly into the agitato central section.
The subtlety of her phrasing and range of her tonal palette reveal Skride as a Romantic player of real stature, and in the Prokofiev-like scherzo she’s not afraid to dig in and make less beautiful sounds when needed. The orchestra has a more dominant role in the final Passacaglia, and Alsop gives the sometimes awkward structure an overarching shape. She and Skride judge the winding-down in the final pages with sensitivity.
The Double Concerto is effectively a student work, which Britten never fully orchestrated: that was left for Colin Matthews to do in 1996. Its opening horn call looks forward to the Serenade, but the intertwining of the solo lines shows the expertise growing in the 18-year-old composer.
Skride and Vukčević are well matched, with integrated phrasing and rubato, especially gratifying in the central Rhapsody, which rises to a passionate climax. The final movement begins as a scherzo, with tricky rhythmic irregularities in a moto perpetuo that finds both players on the edge of their seats. Then there’s a gradual relaxation, as the opening horn calls return, and they recapture the mood of the Rhapsody, with beautiful playing from the orchestra.