Latvian violinist Skride will perform the concerto by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Dunedin on Wednesday next week. Judging from this double album and her international reputation, it will be a real treat to hear this masterpiece live.
The CD shows her brilliance, and adds a bonus of two Sibelius Serenades for solo violin and orchestra. She also gives an outstanding performance on disc 2 of the excellent concerto by another Baltic composer, Carl Nielsen, of Denmark, born in the same year as Sibelius, 150 years ago. Both composers were trained violinists who earned their living for a while from their instrument.
The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, of Finland, accompanying Skride, is one of Scandinavia's foremost orchestras. Its conductor, Santtu-Mattias Rouvali, was ''Rising Star: Great Artists of Tomorrow'' in BBC Music Magazine last month. Skride has been praised for enthralling musicality and captivating tone. She plays a Stradivarius violin ''Ex Baron Feilitzsch'' (1734) generously on loan to her from Gidon Kremer.
The soloist was critically acclaimed in her debut at the BBC Proms with Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko, The Times noted last year: ''Latvian violinist Baiba Skride sailed over the orchestra's magic forest with long lines of melody, silver and sweet.''
She was immediately reinvited to perform the Stravinsky Violin Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. On these discs (recorded with widest dynamics) she displays the necessary virtuosity, with both concertos. Tempi seem relaxed in a masterful way, respecting details of all the musical messages.
Highlight: Top-notch violin playing.
- by Geoff Adams
