This live recording documents the most passionate and intense
reading of Elgar’s marvellous concerto I have heard in recent
years.
Gil Shaham is a perfect soloist for Elgar’s sprawling Romantic concerto.
A supreme technician, he is also a wonderfully soulful artist.
Both qualities are amply demonstrated in his numerous recordings,
and especially in his readings of the Brahms
concerto. That Deutsche Grammophon ever let him go is a
scandal.
Fortunately for lovers of fine violin playing, Shaham has set up his
own label and continues to issue recordings of repertoire he
cares about. Though it comes uncoupled, this recording of the
Elgar concerto is more than worth the modest asking price of
the Canary Classics
disc.
Shaham’s first entry after the orchestral ritornello is quietly understated,
but engagingly inflected. He shapes each phrase of the solo
line with care and imaginative flair – now quietly ruminative,
now longing, now triumphantly extrovert. Simple passages that
link thematic fragments take on new meaning under his bow. The
slow movement in particular is marvellous, Shaham enchanting
with the delicacy of his bowing, finely graded pianissimo and
ravishing lyrical outpourings. There are a couple of rhetorical
stretchings of note lengths in the finale that may bother some,
but his virtuosic despatch of the movement’s fireworks is breathtaking
and the cadenza flows naturally like an inner monologue. Always
there is sincerity and feeling behind the notes.
Zinman and the Chicago Symphony are fantastic partners. Zinman’s care
for balances ensures a transparency of sound that allows Elgar’s
striking orchestration to be heard to best advantage. Solo contributions
from winds and horns are superb, a testament to the virtuosity
of this fine orchestra. The climaxes have plenty of heft and
the orchestra is capable of the utmost delicacy too, as in the
opening of the slow movement.
In some ways this recording reminds me of Perlman's underrated performance
on Deutsche Grammophon, with Barenboim at the head of the same
orchestra. The performance is similarly conceived and Shaham
and Zinman take only seconds more than Perlman and Barenboim
in each movement. If anything, Shaham’s is the better performance,
for the greater shading of the violin line, and Zinman’s more
transparent view of the score, though the DG recording has the
greater overall feeling of Romantic opulence. Like Nigel Kennedy,
Shaham gets to the heart of this concerto, but takes less languorous
tempi in doing so.
Perhaps the more apposite comparison is between Shaham’s live recording
and James Ehnes’ recording, also live, with the Philharmonia
under Sir Andrew Davis. Ehnes’ disc won a 2008 Gramophone Award
and has been praised by Ian
Lace among others. Ehnes' recording is wonderful - there
is no denying it. His tone is consistently centred and full,
and his virtuosity is supreme. But so is Shaham’s and, deploying
a greater variety of tone, he brings to the concerto an emotional
dimension that is lacking in Ehnes’ performance. Ehnes’ performance
is clear-eyed and unsentimental but the solo line is supported
by an emotionally charged Philharmonia under Davis. By contrast,
on this disc Shaham takes the emotional lead, and finds sympathy
on the podium and among the ranks of the Chicago Symphony. Both
accounts are similarly paced, though Shaham’s seems to me to
have greater forward momentum, perhaps because of its emotional
intensity. Elgarians are fortunate to witness the appearance
of two excellent recordings of the violin concerto in the space
of 12 months. Both are fine performances, but Shaham’s vulnerability
and ebullience make his the recording I shall return to more
often.
I downloaded this recording from emusic
and although this makes it impossible for me to comment definitively
on the sound of the CD, the compressed sound of the mp3 files
is natural and well balanced. Audience noise is hardly discernable
– except for the rapturous applause that erupts at the performance’s
close.
If you have never responded to Elgar’s concerto before, this is the
account that might just sway you. Shaham’s disc belongs with Nigel
Kennedy’s collaboration with Handley at the head of the list of
stereo recordings of this masterpiece. Do not miss this.
Tim Perry
