Performances of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto tend to fall into one of two interpretative camps, the reverential, or “Olympian”, and the outgoing. Kreisler, Vengerov, Repin, Perlman and Ferras fall into the former camp, whereas Heifetz, Huberman, Zehetmair, Faust and Kremer occupy the latter. Min-Jin Kym best fits the “reverential” template, with a sweet, often serene tone framed on this occasion by a spacious, calmly shaped accompaniment under Sir Andrew Davis, which is especially appreciative of the first movement’s many extended woodwind chords (ie from 6'30"). But Kym is by no means all sweetness and light – from 7'43", for example, where you can almost feel the attack of the bow.

Another characteristic is the frequent use of dynamic shading, dipping from mezzo forte to piano and back again, inflecting the line imaginatively, sensitively. Perhaps the most moving moment comes at around 6'35" in the Larghetto where the soloist sails quietly above an equally quiet plucked accompaniment, the simplest gesture superbly realised. The first movement cadenza sounds to me like a variant on Joachim’s (he wrote two) whereas Isabelle Faust on her recent recording (Harmonia Mundi, 11/07) opts for a transcription of the cadenza that Beethoven composed for his piano version of the same work. And yet even considering Faust’s use of a longer cadenza Kym and Davis still manage to clock up an extra three minutes for the first movement.

It’s a fine performance, well considered and very well played, though I still tend to favour the bolder, more “concerto-like” options provided by Faust and Zehetmair. Kym also offers us Beethoven’s stormiest violin sonata, where Ian Brown offers her cleanly articulated support. Again one notes her delicacy, and while I wouldn’t rate her performance above the best of her recorded rivals (Kremer/Argerich, Grumiaux/Haskil, etc), she certainly plays with conviction. Good, well balanced sound.