Amanda Maier (1853-1894)
Violin Concerto in D minor (1875)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1896)
Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77 (1878)
Julius Röntgen (1855-1932)
Violin Concerto in F-sharp minor (1931)
Cecilia Zilliacus (violin)
Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Västerås Sinfonietta/Kristiina Poska
rec. 2018/21, Västerås Konserthus, Sweden
DB PRODUCTIONS DBCD202 [79]
How do you attract attention to your new version of the popular Brahms Concerto in a crowded catalogue? For violinist Cecilia Zilliacus and the people at dB Productions, the answer is simple: issue it with other pieces that collectors won't already have.
They certainly won't have Amanda Maier's one-movement, seventeen-minute concerto - I'd not even heard of the composer before. The strong Classical contours of the introduction and interludes make it a good partner for the Brahms; the second theme, while lyrical, is not yielding, and the third sings more fervently. The score, which becomes more overtly virtuosic as it proceeds, is sufficiently cogent and substantial that it doesn't just sound like a remnant of a "full-length" score. Zilliacus brings off the leaps in alt with pinpoint precision and vibrant tone.
They also won't have Julius Röntgen's more forward-looking concerto, which points the way to the twentieth-century Romantics: the spacious, unstable, yet transparent passages of the Andante tranquillo sound straight out of Korngold's opera Die tote Stadt. The searching, ruminative first movement, punctuated by miniature Wagnerian marches and fanfares, isn't overtly virtuosic: the cadenza grows organically out of the movement: it isn't overtly virtuosic. A rolling violin scale launches the finale, a sort of triple-time moto perpetuo; for the second group, Zilliacus hands off the busywork to the midrange strings while she phrases broadly over it. As in the Maier, her tone turns lustrous and vital high up on the E string.
The separation between the first two orchestral phrases of the Brahms is blunted, but the following tutti is incisive; then the lyrical phrases yield a bit. After her rhetorical opening flourishes, Zilliacus intones the first theme spaciously. The recapitulation arrives triumphantly, though the approach is again slightly blunted. The orchestral reëntry after the cadenza - a "different" one, by the contemporary Swede Mats Larson Gothe - is very patient, with open, clear textures. The Adagio's theme unfolds simply, with a tenuto weight, and Zilliacus phrases with a natural rubato. The finale is sprightly and vivacious; the rhetorical pointing of the opening phrase's triple-stops, fortunately, doesn't recur later on. It's fine, but I doubt it'll displace anyone's old favorites: For all the glories of Zilliacus's high range, her midrange tone is nothing special - it even falters on some of the upward leaps - and her legato not ideally full-bodied.
Save for those blunted phrase-endings in Brahms's introduction, no complaints about Kristiina Poska's sensitive, astute conducting. She gets the "Sinfonietta," presumably a smaller orchestra, to sound as imposing as the big orchestra in Malmö, supporting her soloist, punctuating the solos with assertive tuttis, striking the right balance between accommodating and leading her soloist, as one does.
The recorded acoustic is unobtrusive, with some cushioning at the bass end; the brass chords are brilliant and deep.
Stephen Francis Vasta
stevedisque.wordpress.com/blog
