Vadim Repin is among the most easygoing of violin virtuosos, a sweetly expressive player, restrained and stylish, though less steely-brilliant than his compatriot and fellow Bron-pupil Maxim Vengerov. Rather than court brilliance for its own sake, Repin does what he has to do in order to achieve the desired musical results. He has a delicate tone with a fairly quick vibrato, and his phrasing is above all tasteful. Which is why the most successful items here tend to be the pieces with the highest musical value, such as Wieniawski’s charming though rarely heard Variations on an Original Theme. Paganini’s unaccompanied Nel cor piu non mi sento variations call on all manner of violinistic tricks, including left-hand pizzicatos, arpeggios and double-stopped trills. Repin employs these and other virtuoso devices with relative ease. His handling of Estrellita’s opening bars is virtually as seductive as the young Heifetz’s (RCA, 6/93); his Tchaikovsky balances brilliance and sentiment, and he contrives a thrilling struggle for Ernst’s knotty unaccompanied violin version of Schubert’s Erlkonig.
Paganini’s 24th Caprice is played in Auer’s arrangement for violin and piano (more palatable to some ears than the solo original), whereas the Mose Variations and Sarasate’s Zapateado are offered in editions by Zino Francescatti. Both Paganini pieces work well and the Sarasate is dazzling, whereas Bazzini’s La ronde des lutins – although very well played – is perhaps just a little too sane-headed. Repin’s prime consideration is always the music itself, a laudable virtue though less obvious in display pieces than in the larger works more readily associated with his name. If you really want to know what he is capable of, then try his marvellous Erato CDs of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto or the Prokofiev sonatas (both 1/96). However, those who fancy the present programme – which is expertly accompanied and very well recorded – are unlikely to be disappointed.'