Latvian National Symphony Orchestra
Vassily Sinaisky (conductor)
Valdins Zarins (violin)
Campion CAMEO 2004
This romantic virtuoso concerto is written in language everyone will recognise. This is declared from the very opening bars. There is an occasional Miaskovskian darkness about it but a brilliant light as well. The Tchaikovsky concerto may have been a pattern as also may be the Glazunov. In any event the impact of this music is immediate and winning. The first movement drives forward with a busy moto perpetuo figure with a Sibelian accent. The soloist is adept at colouring and dynamic and he has a wide expressive palette which is used to great effect. The joyous main quicksilver melody in the first movement is hummable. The reflective bit with solo violin occasionally drifts into Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade .. and none the worse for that. I defy you not to smile as the solo violin takes to flight again at 11.00.
The second movement opens with the strings gently intoning its main theme - the gem of the whole work. The solo violinist gently unwinds the theme in front of us and develops it. Falteringly and then with greater confidence the music is changed passing through country dance style variations but without a moment of tweeness. The music is played with great concentration and an attractive inward quality. Waking at 4:40 into further more active country interludes - it is dance that is invoked without preciousness but with open-hearted and unselfconscious joy. The Russian style horns at 6:01 are wonderfully apt here. The movement ends with the violin high in the stratosphere.
The final movement open busily and sounds momentarily like the start of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 1. The violin is soon in full flight. Again Tchaikovsky comes briefly to mind from time to time. If this movement lacks the substance of the other two it is exciting and has its glowing romantic moments.
If you have enjoyed the Sibelius, Tchaikovsky or Glazunov violin concertos and you have an open mind then you will like this piece. This work inhabits the richly romantic world of the neglected violin concerto. If you have enjoyed the violin concertos by Bax, Moeran, Walton, Barber, Miaskovsky (a brother to the Ivanovs Concerto), De Boeck, Manuel Ponce, Othmar Schoeck and Menotti. The language of this work may be old fashioned but the message is compelling.
The sound quality is rich without a hint of shrillness. The fireworks are impressive but the poetry is what burns the work into the memory. Above all it is that slow movement which will draw you back to play the disc again and again. I can imagine some classical radio station hosts being tempted to play that movement by itself. I hope they do … anything to get this work a wider hearing. Most people encountering this concerto for the first time will wonder where on earth to go from here. After all Ivanovs has written rather a lot. However the point is that they will want to explore Ivanovs. I have heard a tape of the old Melodiya LP recording (C-01475-6) of the concerto with the Latvian RSO conducted by Edgars Tons and the soloist Juris Shvolkovskis. This is a game recording and performance but is no match in sound quality for the Campion CD.
The couplings are rewarding. I first came to hear Aulis Sallinen through his impressive First and Third Symphonies. The short (17 minute) Sallinen Violin Concerto (rec 1991) may take more sustained and repeated listening than the Ivanovs but it is an approachable piece in a slightly oblique language. The violinist is fully occupied but the score is rich with myriad orchestral details and highlights. Sometimes this leaves the impression of a rather fragmented piece. The textures and incidents have plenty of action for the percussion and the violence occasionally infects the violin part and once or twice I thought about the William Schuman Violin Concerto. The work has, I believe, also been recorded on a BIS CD although I have not heard that performance. This is an early work in Sallinen’s history - it dates from 1968.
The Sibelius Violin Concerto (rec 1989) is a respectable bright-eyed performance with much dreamy tenderness on show as well as the customary glittering storms of the solo part. Valdis Zarins and Vassily Sinaisky will not banish memories of the David Oistrakh/Rozhdestvensky disc but anyone coming to know the concerto through this recording is unlikely to be disappointed.
However it is the Ivanovs Concerto which makes this CD special. The rest is a bonus. Our thanks then to Campion, the artists and to Latvijas Radio.
Rob Barnett, MusicWeb, January 1999