Midori – 20th Anniversary Album
Two glorious recitals which show Midori’s mature artistry to best advantage
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Edward Elgar, Amy Marcy (Cheney) Beach, Henryk Wieniawski, Sergey Prokofiev, Fritz Kreisler, Ede Poldini, Claude Debussy
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Sony Classical
Magazine Review Date: 12/2002
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 52
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: SK89700
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 |
Henryk Wieniawski, Composer
Henryk Wieniawski, Composer Leonard Slatkin, Conductor Miss Midori, Violin St Louis Symphony Orchestra |
(24) Préludes, Movement: La fille aux cheveux de lin |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Miss Midori, Violin Robert McDonald, Piano |
(La) Gitana |
Fritz Kreisler, Composer
Fritz Kreisler, Composer Miss Midori, Violin Robert McDonald, Piano |
(The) Tales of an old grandmother, Movement: Andantino |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Miss Midori, Violin Robert McDonald, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
(The) Tales of an old grandmother, Movement: Andante assai |
Sergey Prokofiev, Composer
Miss Midori, Violin Robert McDonald, Piano Sergey Prokofiev, Composer |
Romance |
Amy Marcy (Cheney) Beach, Composer
Amy Marcy (Cheney) Beach, Composer Miss Midori, Violin Robert McDonald, Piano |
(7) Marionnettes |
Ede Poldini, Composer
Ede Poldini, Composer Miss Midori, Violin Robert McDonald, Piano |
Chanson de nuit |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Miss Midori, Violin Robert McDonald, Piano |
Composer or Director: Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns, Francis Poulenc
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Sony Classical
Magazine Review Date: 12/2002
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 53
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: SK89699
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Sonata for Violin and Piano |
Francis Poulenc, Composer
Francis Poulenc, Composer Miss Midori, Violin Robert McDonald, Piano |
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 |
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer Miss Midori, Violin Robert McDonald, Piano |
Author: Edward Greenfield
Wieniawski’s First Violin Concerto has never matched No 2 in popularity, but Midori’s involving performance makes one wonder why. As a test I put it alongside Itzhak Perlman’s EMI version with the LPO under Ozawa, and – perhaps not surprisingly – her live account is more volatile and more freely expressive, with even the conventional passage-work given an extra sparkle. She also chooses a more flowing Larghetto for the central ‘Preghiera’ (Prayer) slow movement, which brings out the songful lyricism more persuasively, with her first entry magically hushed, full of natural gravity. The dotted rhythms of the Rondo finale are then even more playful. The radio recording is full and forwardly balanced, but the range of dynamic and expression in Midori’s playing is never compromised.
In the encore pieces which make up the rest of the disc, recorded in May 2001, the range of dynamic is again remarkable. She plays the opening item, Hartmann’s arrangement of Debussy’s ‘La fille aux cheveux de lin’, with such delicacy she seems simply to be musing to herself, and her simple gravity in Elgar’s Chanson de nuit, the last item, taken steadily, turns it into a sort of prayer. Such an approach could easily have lapsed into sentimentality, but emphatically not so here. Kreisler’s Spanish dance, La Gitana, and his arrangement of Poldini’s ‘Poupée valsante’ make a delightful contrast, full of fantasy; and the longest of the pieces, Amy Beach’s Romance, brings the widest contrasts of dynamic and expression, making it far more than a salon piece.
It may seem odd that the three French violin sonatas on the second anniversary disc, also recorded in May 2001, are presented in reverse chronological order. Yet one can understand why when the reading of the Poulenc Sonata, which comes first, is the most revelatory of the three, strongly characterised in the outer movements and meditative in the central Intermezzo, Très lent et calme. Midori also plays the late, freely inventive Debussy Sonata almost as though it is an improvisation, a magnetic performance, while in the two-movement Saint-Saëns Sonata she follows up her impulsive reading of the long first movement with a sparkling account of the finale, ending her sequence full of fun.
On both discs Robert McDonald proves an outstanding partner, always supportive, and winningly taking the odd opportunity to shine in his own right, as in the swirling glissandi of La Gitana. Both discs offer rather short measure, but quality is what matters.
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