Tchaikovsky / Miaskovsky: Violin Concertos

Chronique

Is there room for another Tchaikovsky concerto? Is there room for one of the most over-played concertos in the standard repertoire? If there is, this is the one. Violinist Vadim Repin performs the concerto with cheeky brilliance, playing it with a smile in his tone like a character out of Noël Coward. Valery Gergiev goes right along with Repin, engaging in clever repartee right down to the last laugh at the end of the Allegro vivacissimo. Even the sorrowful Canzonetta seems to be smiling through its tears in Repin and Gergiev's performance. Is there room for even one Myaskovsky concerto? Is there room for even one of the most rarely played concertos at the far fringes of the repertoire? If there is, this is the one. Repin and Gergiev perform the work with the fervor of true believers. From the brooding melancholy of the opening Allegro through the lyrical nobility of the Adagio e molto cantabile to the dashing Allegro scherzando, Repin and Gergiev's interpretation testifies to the greatness of Myaskovsky's concerto. Although the darkly Romantic music of Myaskovsky has never caught on outside Russia, this performance compels belief.

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