Recorded at Potton Hall‚ Suffolk‚ as recently as May this year‚ this solo violin recital offers a masterly demonstration of the artistry as well as the virtuoso prowess of Maxim Vengerov. It culminates in the two items which will obviously win the widest popular appeal‚ a thrilling solo violin transcription of Bach’s D minor Toccata and Fugue and Shchedrin’s Balalaika‚ written in 1997‚ which Vengerov uses as a party­piece encore‚ dispensing with his bow and playing the violin pizzicato as though it is a balalaika‚ to the great amusement of the audience. In the period­performance field‚ Andrew Manze has already impressively led the way in playing the Toccata and Fugue on solo violin. It has long been argued that as it is stylistically unlike any of the rest of Bach’s organ music‚ it must come from another hand‚ with Manze persuasively putting forward the idea of a solo violin source. Certainly‚ Vengerov‚ like Manze‚ makes it into a formidable showpiece‚ something that in its sustained power can well stand comparison even with the great Chaconne of the D minor Partita‚ with Vengerov thrillingly bringing out the dramatic and dynamic contrasts. Aptly‚ when Bach’s solo Partitas and Sonatas are central to the solo violin repertory‚ they provide a recurrent background theme through the recital. Vengerov opens with YsaØe’s Sonata No 2‚ the one in A minor dedicated to Jacques Thibaud‚ which opens with surreal fragments of the Preludio to the Third Partita‚ Thibaud’s regular ‘warm­up’ piece before concerts. In a similar way the large­scale Echo Sonata of Shchedrin‚ written in 1984‚ has surreal Bach quotations dotted around its 15­minute span‚ rather like oases of logic amid an otherwise intense argument. Movingly‚ the composer’s passion finally subsides in phrases alternating with the faintest snatches of Bach. Vengerov is in total command emotionally and technically of this demanding piece‚ and his readings of the four YsaØe Sonatas are similarly passionate‚ the ones dedicated to Enescu‚ Kreisler and Manuel Quiroga‚ as well as to Thibaud. His red­blooded approach provides a striking contrast with Frank Peter Zimmermann’s finely disciplined studio performances on an earlier EMI disc. Vengerov is warmer‚ more volatile and spontaneous in romantic style‚ where Zimmermann concentrates on finding beauty in poise and restraint. Vengerov‚ almost seeming to improvise‚ is the more immediately persuasive‚ emphatically bringing out the Dies Irae quotations in No 2 and deftly in the Sarabande of No 4 bringing out the melody implied in the pizzicato line. He also finds more fun in the Spanish references in No 6‚ with tango rhythms offered as a tribute to the Spaniard‚ Quiroga. This is a solo violin recital‚ which‚ unlike many‚ in its magnetism and variety‚ its power and passion‚ runs no risk of monotony.