Classical reviews


Mozart: Piano Concertos 22 and 25.
David Fray (piano), Philharmonia Orchestra.
Virgin CD.

The 30-year-old pianist Fray was the "instrumentalist of the year" in France for 2010.

He plays these two major-key works, E flat and C, with the London orchestra (Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden), joyfully recorded with great clarity and natural balance.

Fray's command of musical colour and touch is masterful, with a basic legato approach that is unusual but effective.

He concentrates more on phrasing than a huge range of dynamics.

He doesn't rush in, but blends sensitively with the orchestra; in the slow movement of No.25, there is poetic delicacy in his entry after an opening texture of woodwinds and horn, weaving a fine tapestry.

Even in Mozart's energetic finales, the soloist displays sophisticated care and maturity.

Highlight: musical artistry of high order.


Saint-Saens: Violin Concertos 1, 2 and 3.
Fanny Clamagirand (violin), Sinfonia Finlandia Jyvaskyla.
Naxos CD.

Young Parisian violinist Clamagirand won first prize at the 2005 Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna and also at the 2007 Monte Carlo Violin Masters Competition.

She is a highly skilled performer of this gorgeously Romantic and showy music.

The B minor Concerto No.3 is best known but No.2 in C major is also highly memorable.

No.1 in A major (one movement) was written for Sarasate and is also inventive and technically demanding.

The soloist copes dazzlingly with the pyrotechnics of virtuosity in the works but her recorded sound is not big - at times, the balance threatens to drown out some of her spectacular displays.

Patrick Gallois directs the Finnish orchestra, which plays with precision and warmth.

Highlight: showy cadenza of Concerto No.2.


 

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