Classical reviews

This week Classical reviewer Geoff Adams lisens to Joachim: Violin Concertos Op.3 and Op.11, and Markopoulos: Shapes in Motion; Concerto-Rhapsody; Triptych for Flute, Strings and Harp, etc.

> Joachim: Violin Concertos Op.3 and Op.11. Suyoen Kim (violin); Staatskapelle Weimar. Naxos CD.

Joseph Joachim (1831-1907) is best known for his often-played cadenzas for the Beethoven and Brahms Violin Concertos. He was a virtuoso violinist and colleague of Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms.

His own Op.3 was written at the age of 20, with only one lengthy movement dedicated to Liszt. Op.11, named In the Hungarian Style, has the classical three-movement structure but occupies a challenging 45 minutes.

Kim, winner of the 2006 Hanover International Violin Competition, shows her class in these marathons of technical control and stamina.

The disc is part of a worthy Naxos ongoing investigation of 19th-century violinist/composers. But I would prefer to hear Kim playing more memorable and less tediously long music.

Highlight: the Gypsy finale of Op.11, that calls for fiery abandon from the soloist.

> Markopoulos: Shapes in Motion; Concerto-Rhapsody; Triptych for Flute, Strings and Harp, etc. Various musicians and orchestras. Naxos CD.

Yannis Markopoulos is a modern composer in a Greek Classics series. Born in Crete in 1939, he is influenced by Egyptian, Middle Eastern and Cretan traditional music and Western classical styles, as well as sea waves, war bombs and Byzantine liturgy.

In 1977 his haunting music for TV series Who Pays the Ferryman? topped the British charts for months.

Brussels Philharmonic and others, with fine soloists like Dimitri Papatheodorou (piano) and Marc Graewels (flute) give this sampler of his melodious style.

Shapes in Motion is a piano concerto, Triptych exploits contrasting sonorities, and Concerto-Rhapsody employs the Cretan lyre (Zacharias Spyridakis). Shorter works have graceful delicacy, with occasional shows of force.

Highlight: Dionysian dance frenzy ends Shapes in Motion.