Brahms – Violin Concerto and Double Concerto:Vadim Repin/Truls Mork/ Riccardo Chailly/ Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Deutsche Grammofon
BRAHMS’ Violin Concerto is one of the big, grand romantic violin concertos and deserves to be treated well in the grand manner. This is what it gets here in this new recording by Vadim Repin and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly.
Repin has a full tone and makes his instrument sing like an operatic star, but his grandeur has nothing worldly or simply ceremonial about it. He plays truly and sincerely. In this respect, he is well partnered by Chailly, who as well as playing the drums in a rhythm and blues band, has enormous experience in opera at La Scala, Vienna State, Salzburg, Covent Garden and the Bavarian State. His Amsterdam farewell performance in Verdi’s Don Carlo is still talked about. He has been with the Leipzig Orchestra since 2005.
The legendary Ida Haendel used to caution young violinists not to perform Beethoven and Brahms until they were mature musicians, yet herself admitted to having played the formidable Beethoven Concerto aged nine and the Brahms only a year or so later. Russian virtuoso Admittedly, Vadim Repin is a young musician, but his maturity and assurance is clearly demonstrated here.
The Brahms Concerto deserves your full attention and yields great returns. I loved the operatic grandeur and bold sweep of the opening movement and was pleased that few concessions were made to Viennese heart-tugging with the slow movement. Nothing is thrown away in the finale and it all ends at full throttle.
There is no sense of rush in this performance – although it is not as slow as Nigel Kennedy’s version. Proceedings here are firm, measured and well-paced, but always have a strong sense of moving forward. This is Delphic and Palladian in its majesty and sweep. I speak as a Bathonian when I say this is the Royal Crescent of Brahms’ Concertos.
It is well-matched with a performance of the Double Concerto for Violin and Cello where Repin is partnered by Truls Mork seems less divine and rather more companionable. The slow movement, in particular, shows the true partnership where you have the real sense of the performers listening to one another. Again, this performance has something operatic about it. This is not a contest between two soloists, but truly duet playing. And I wanted to cheer at the end.
Robert Giddings
