Vilde Frang - Korngold & Britten: Violin Concerto (2016) [TR24][OF]

This is the young Norwegian violinist’s fifth Warner Classics release. Early 2015 brought a programme devoted entirely to Mozart, but her previous concerto discs were also notable for imaginative musical matchmaking: Tchaikovsky/Nielsen and Sibelius/Prokofiev. Both concertos on this new disc were written when their composers were in the USA around the time of World War II: the Korngold was completed in 1945, the Britten in 1939. In the course of the 1930s Korngold, an Austrian Jew, had become a prominent Hollywood composer, but could not return to his homeland after 1938; the young Britten, a pacifist, left the UK for New York shortly before the declaration of war in 1939. Both composers had been child prodigies and both concertos are centred around the key of D, the most ‘natural’ key on the violin and the tonal focus for the violin concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR VILDE FRANG - BRITTEN & KORNGOLD: VIOLIN CONCERTOS

“An exciting player, she prefers taking chances to playing it safe” Gramophone Recording of the Month

“Her sound is superb – icy, fiery, whispered, ultra-rich – and her phrases pour out fearlessly, urgently. It’s a fresh and convincing" The Guardian ****

Concerto Award - Gramophone Awards 2016

TRACKLIST
1. Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: I. Moderato nobile
2. Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: II. Romanze
3. Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: IIII. Allegro assai vivace
4. Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 15: I. Moderato con moto - Agitato - Tempo primo -
5. Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 15: II. Vivace - Animando - Largamente - Cadenza
6. Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 15: III. Passacaglia - Andante lento (Un poco meno mosso)