Beethoven, Mendelssohn: Violin Concertosby Anonymous

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April 20, 2007: Russian violinist Viktoria Mullova has technique to burn. There are few violinists who match her intuitive sense of the middle of the pitch or the delicacy of her phrasing. She is well regarded for her impeccable performances and passion for Baroque music: she is also sought after for premieres of new music. It is this combination of talents that make her approach to the two concerti on this CD most memorable. Elegant in stage deportment with never a moment of extraneous 'showmanship', Mullova is immediately at one with the music and never leaves that presence - as observed in her recent performance of the Beethoven concerto with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic: the two artists see this concerto eye to eye and the result is a fresh interpretation that is all quintessential elegance. On this recording she collaborates well with John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique - the same sense of the delicate and precise, immaculate reading is intact. Mullova uses the cadenzas written by Ottavio Dantone and she is able to find every moment of the variations of the themes without submerging them in the tricky 'accompaniments' for which Dantone is famous. The result is a light, precise, airy Beethoven that has its own quality of drama in Mullova's consistent understatement. The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor paired with the Beethoven is one of the finest performances recorded. Mullova's approach "very much influenced by her passion for Baroque" serves this work well and the support from Gardiner is completely in agreement. An excellent recording. Grady Harp