Brahms & Busoni Violin Concertos

Album review

Violinist Francesca Dego has been known mostly for virtuoso repertory and for smaller lyrical works, but here, entering mid-career, she takes on a pair of hefty Romantic concertos, ably supported by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and its principal guest conductor, Dalia Stasevska. There is a great deal to recommend the album, which landed on classical best-seller charts in early 2024. The Brahms Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77, and Busoni Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35a, may seem an odd pair, with the Brahms intricately classical and never particularly idiomatic to the violin, while the Busoni is splashy and colorful, Italianate in the best way. Busoni's concerto is an early work, not terribly often recorded, and Dego's outing here is worth the price of admission on its own. Both slow movements are gorgeous, with Dego's nearly unparalleled ability to produce a long, soaring line on full display. The outer movements of the Brahms may be a matter of taste, for this is not the usual heroic Brahms; Dego seems to be trying to bring it closer to Busoni with a lighter tone and folkish elements in her playing. It may work, and it may not, but it is worth hearing for oneself, and the album provides further testimony that this highly charismatic violinist is becoming a major figure.

© James Manheim /TiVo