First‚ a word of advice: don’t open the booklet before playing the CD. If you do‚ you’ll find what you see – a moody­looking young man with bare arms and shoulders hugging a violin – misleading. You’ll probably anticipate a sort of wannabe­Kennedy‚ someone fairly gritty and confrontational‚ but what you’ll actually hear is a gentle if occasionally idiosyncratic performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Those who already know David Garrett’s DG CDs of Mozart and Beethoven (4/95) will also know that he’s very much his own man. Prior to making this recording‚ he made sure to assume the right mind­set‚ reading up on his Tchaikovsky‚ walking around Moscow thinking of his Russian forebears and‚ if I guess correctly‚ catching up on some old records. For although the cleanliness of line and technique suggest modern training‚ the overall approach – a fast‚ tremulous vibrato‚ flexible phrasing and plenty of ‘heart’ – recalls‚ on occasion‚ Heifetz‚ even Mischa Elman. This is emotive Tchaikovsky playing‚ thoughtful but conversational‚ though Mikhail Pletnev’s Russian National Orchestra prefer to keep at a respectable distance‚ holding the pace steady and reminding us of various niceties in Tchaikovsky’s scoring‚ such as the prominent bassoon that helps lead to the first orchestral climax. I could have done with a little more swagger for the imperious central tutti‚ and the accelerating trills that Garrett employs in the finale tend to pall on repetition. But viewed generally‚ this is an agile and personable reading‚ ever­so­slightly formal but quite bereft of cliché and not at all run­of­the­mill. The 1898 Concerto by the Russian Jules Conus (1869­1942) has – like the better­known Korngold Violin Concerto – become inextricably linked with the name of Jascha Heifetz‚ whose extraordinarily intense RCA recording remains the unmatchable benchmark. Garrett is a good deal more relaxed than Heifetz‚ though he certainly seems to love the piece and has the enviable skill of being able to incorporate elements of Heifetzian thinking into his own interpretation. No‚ it isn’t the same‚ but it is an extremely good performance‚ much aided by Pletnev’s generously expressive accompaniment which in turn upstages Izler Solomon’s hard­pressed conducting for Heifetz. Of course DG’s digital recording is vastly superior to RCA’s hair­shirt mono‚ but why wait four years to release it? Never mind. If you fancy the coupling you’re confidently advised that both performances have a good deal to offer. But if you’re wedded to Heifetz and don’t much care about sound quality‚ then I’d stick with what you’ve got.