A fascinating study in comparisons, and an auspicious DG debut for Vadim Repin and Riccardo Muti. Muti’s conducting of the Concerto is leisurely, at times even a mite imperious, though always flexible and accommodating of his soloist, while the Vienna Philharmonic’s playing is consistently warm in texture. Beam up the first movement’s central development, from 11'31", and you’ll note a softly treading accompaniment, with patient instrumental interchanges (bassoons and strings, principally), and a subtle easing of pulse from 13'24", Repin sailing atop gently cradling strings. The return to full tutti is carefully calculated, the beautifully played cadenza a little later on Kreisler’s famous melding of themes, less fashionable nowadays than it once was, but wholly appropriate to Repin’s reverential and warm-hearted interpretation.Turn to Isabelle Faust and Jirí Belohlávek in the same passage (from 10'12" on their CD) and aside from a swifter, rather stricter overall tempo, there’s a greater feeling of urgency and a keener sense of forward momentum. True, Faust’s tone hasn’t the Kreislerian allure of Repin’s: her approach is cooler and her choice of the slightly mischievous cadenzas based on the ones Beethoven wrote for his piano version of the concerto is appropriate. I also like the small-band ambience of Belohlávek’s Prague Philharmonia, its clarity and bite.

Interesting that both DG and Harmonia Mundi should offer the Kreutzer Sonata as a companion, a musically logical if surprisingly uncommon choice. Again, the contrasts are essentially concerned with scale, Repin and Martha Argerich weighing in more heavily than Faust and Alexander Melnikov. Repin’s refined expressiveness and Argerich’s powerhouse pianism happily relate, provided you can accept the “marriage of opposites” principle. Argerich is definitely the dominant partner, whereas the lighter, less effortful Melnikov meets Faust on more or less equal terms. Theirs is a likeably athletic Kreutzer, controlled yet forthright and very well balanced. Both performances observe the important first movement exposition repeat.

For the concerto, although I count Repin among the most accomplished and musically sincere of violinists, I would turn to Faust first, a version that although less tonally sweet than some keeps me hooked for the duration. Repin will possibly appeal more to those who view the work as “Olympian”. As to the Kreutzer, balance is crucial, and Faust and Melnikov have the edge there, too, principally because their terms of argument seem more equal.