The name of Renaud Capuçon is not the first that would spring to mind when searching for recordings of Bach’s violin concertos, even though I learn from the information enclosed with this pre-release copy that the A minor was the first concerto he ever played. The approach is a happy medium: Capuçon is clearly aware of the lessons in articulation to be learnt from historically informed performance, but never sounds exaggerated and never throws caution to the winds in terms of speed. The performances nevertheless flow very well (the first movement of BWV1042 is particularly fine); and while I do not imagine that I shall be returning to them very often, they are likely to prove very satisfactory to those wary of the orchestral behemoth and the excesses of what we used to call ‘authenticity’ alike.

It is the Vasks that provides the real meat here. While the work has already been recorded outstandingly by Kremer and Storgårds (Teldec, 10/99), Capuçon really does have something to say. There is a sense of complicity with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (he is directing as well as playing) that brings the work alive in a way that can only be described as electric. There is nowhere to hide in Vasks’s music; it is stripped to the minimum, but that is what gives it its power. Both orchestra and soloist understand this absolutely, and there is no sense ever of over-interpreting the music, though Capuçon has a wonderful sense of line, following the direction of every melody or melodic tag unflaggingly. The music is allowed to breathe, given space, and the sound is thus at once intimate and vast (and also beautifully captured). If you are looking for a recording of the Vasks, this is the one to buy.