Béla BARTÓK (1881-1945)
Violin Concerto No. 1 [22:06]
Violin Concerto No. 2 [35:48]
Isabelle Faust (violin)
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Daniel Harding
rec. Berwaldhallen, Stockholm, April 2012
HARMONIA MUNDI HMC 902146 [57:59]
A new release from Isabelle Faust is worth getting excited about.
Her recent recordings - most notably her Brahms, Beethoven and Berg
concertos - have been universally acclaimed, so I was already well
disposed to this Bartók disc even before I pressed play. It
lives up to the hype with solo playing of sensitivity and playfulness
and an orchestral sound that fits it like a hand to a glove.
Faust is the star of the show and she is, indeed, marvellous throughout.
In the First Concerto her playing is sensitive, delicate, tentative
even, pointing up the tenderness of the concerto and reminding us
that it is, effectively, a love letter to Stefi Geyer. I loved the
mood of the opening where, as Faust spins out the solo line, the orchestral
violins slowly join in, gradually joined by the rest of the orchestra,
building up a web of sound that is utterly beguiling. The violin becomes
increasingly rapturous as the movement progresses, echoing the soaring
emotions of the young composer. The orchestral sound also develops
a soaring quality, buoyed up by Harding’s sensitive direction
which is controlled and disciplined but which also knows when to let
go. There is then a much more subversive mood to the second movement,
which fully lives up to its giocoso marking. Faust romps away
at the beginning, but then becomes much more refined and delicate
as the second subject creeps in, and it’s marvellous listening
to this theme unfurl in the context of the wider orchestra. Around
about the five-minute mark there is a lovely moment where the violin
seems to be stamping its feet against the thrums of the orchestra,
and the riot of colour provided by the winds throughout this movement
sounds so fresh that it might as well have just been flicked off a
paintbrush. Faust’s passage-work is never merely for show but
always to serve the purpose of the music, and the return of Stefi’s
theme at the very end is very delicately handled.
The Second Concerto is, if anything, even finer. The opening
verbunkos theme unfolds with a mixture of nobility and good
humour. Faust seems to revel in the opportunity to lead it off into
all sorts of unexpected directions, with some astonishing double-stops
and runs. Playfulness then takes over before the rhapsodically beautiful
emergence of the second theme which unfolds with an exploratory sense
of excitement. This combination of skittishness and nobility, in all
the right proportions, makes for a constantly refreshing reading of
this movement, and the cadenza, when it arrives, really catches fire
in her hands. The change of key in the final bars still manages to
sound surprising, and the slow movement which follows begins with
a wonderful statement of the main theme, played with beautiful simplicity
by Faust and atmospherically accompanied by Harding and the orchestra.
This sets up a partnership that continues for the rest of the movement.
The accompaniment of the second variation is particularly special,
the mysterious sounds of the orchestra appearing to float in from
afar, while Faust’s daredevil runs of the fifth are remarkable.
The finale is then full of momentum and pyrotechnics, and they choose
the rarely heard original ending of the work that Bartók wrote
before Zoltán Székely, the violinist who asked the composer
for the work, insisted that he wanted a coda that featured a stronger
part for the violin. Here, in Bartók’s original thoughts,
the orchestra romps home with a riotous climax featuring trombones
that sound as though they have been let loose in a china shop.
This disc is a winner. The sensitivity of the playing and the empathy
of the orchestral accompaniment put it in a very special class which
is worthy of comparison with any other set in the catalogue. The most
recent pair of the Bartók concertos to come my way was Arabella
Steinbacher’s recording with Marek Janowski and the Orchestre
de la Suisse Romande. It’s super too, but more extroverted and
a touch less sympathetic than this version. So it is to Faust and
Harding that I will be returning next time I want to hear these concertos.
This disc deserves to win many friends.
Simon Thompson
This disc is a winner.
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