Haydn, M; Mozart Violin Concertos

Poised and elegant playing from the young Latvian

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, (Johann) Michael Haydn, Franz Schubert

Genre:

Orchestral

Label: Sony Classical

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 67

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: SK92939

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 3 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Baiba Skride, Violin
CPE Bach Chamber Orchestra
Hartmut Haenchen, Conductor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Rondo for Violin and Orchestra Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Baiba Skride, Violin
CPE Bach Chamber Orchestra
Hartmut Haenchen, Conductor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Rondo Franz Schubert, Composer
Baiba Skride, Violin
CPE Bach Chamber Orchestra
Franz Schubert, Composer
Hartmut Haenchen, Conductor
Concerto for Violin and Strings (Johann) Michael Haydn, Composer
(Johann) Michael Haydn, Composer
Baiba Skride, Violin
CPE Bach Chamber Orchestra
Hartmut Haenchen, Conductor
As on her debut disc of Bach, Bartók and Ysaÿe, the young Latvian violinist Baiba Skride here avoids the obvious by juxtaposing a favourite Mozart concerto with music by Michael Haydn and Schubert. The Haydn concerto, one of three he wrote around 1760, is a slender, amiable work that ambles along pleasantly but uneventfully in its first two movements, then picks up for a catchy dance finale. With her sweet, finely focused tone and graceful sense of phrase, Skride gives a lovely performance, ideally poised in the galant Adagio, nicely balancing refinement and zest in the finale. She is just as good in the engagingly garrulous Schubert Rondo, bringing witty new inflections to the main theme each time it breezes in, and negotiating the skittering passagework with nonchalant elegance.

I enjoyed the Mozart concerto, too, especially the outer movements where Skride combines playfulness, delicacy and imaginative touches of shading. But while she sings eloquently in the elysian Adagio, I find her con amore approach slightly over-romanticised. With their lighter tone, greater variety of bow-strokes (Skride tends to cultivate a seamless sostenuto) and more selective use of vibrato, both Viktoria Mullova (Philips, 11/02) and Pekka Kuusisto (Ondine, 3/04) find a vein of innocence, even a touch of puckishness, that rather eludes Skride.

A pity, too, that she opts for the traditional, inflated cadenzas by Sam Franko, with their orgy of multiple stoppings. Still, the beauty and finish of her playing are undeniable, here and elsewhere. The CPE Bach Chamber Orchestra accompany sprucely throughout, though I could have done with more pungent oboes and horns in the tuttis.

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