In the last movement of Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto, Patricia Kopatchinskaja takes the composer’s ben marcato seriously, using heavy accentuation to produce the effect of a pungent danse macabre. Even the contrasting legato melody is presented with a sinister, flautando sound. Janine Jansen’s performance (also with Jurowski and the LPO) is less extreme, with plenty of variety, but stays closer to ‘normal’ tone production and bowing. In the first two movements there’s a similar contrast, Kopatchinskaja, with sharper characterisation, presenting a more individualistic view than Jansen. For example, she plays the opening solo bars freely, giving them the aspect of a motto; and in the Andante, entering extremely quietly, only gradually dispels the effect created by its ‘clockwork’ accompaniment. One feels that with every phrase she has succeeded in making the concerto her own.

It’s a similar story with the Stravinsky. In the pageant-like first movement and the energetic journey of the finale, Kopatchinskaja makes use of a remarkable range of bow strokes and tonal colourings to give each episode its own vivid identity, while the two central movements allow her to play gracefully and, in ‘Aria II’, to give a strong impression of improvisation. Throughout both concertos, conductor and orchestra appear to support with enthusiasm Kopatchinskaja’s vision of the music, with many distinguished solo contributions.

Neither concerto includes a cadenza but Kopatchinskaja gives us one for the Stravinsky, as a separate track – a brilliant response to the work’s ambience and atmosphere, in which the LPO’s leader, Pieter Schoeman, joins in. Not to be missed.