The Full Works Concert - Thursday 27 March 2014
Tonight, Jane Jones takes a final look at top new recordings released to date in 2014.
In this evening's Full Works Concert, Jane Jones takes a final look at some of the best new classical recordings released to date in 2014, including the Swedish Chamber Orchestra’s album of Schubert's symphonies, and a superb performance of the Dvorak Cello Concerto.
When Bach composed his Violin Concerto in A minor around 1730, it was obvious he had something more lasting in mind than a simple technical exercise; this is an altogether more yearning and melancholy concerto than any of his others. Give the second movement a listen in particular - that impossibly pretty solo violin line can't just be the sound of Bach giving himself a technical challenge, rather this is a glorious precursor to the soloist culture of the the Classical period. It's played tonight in a fabulous recording by Renaud Capucon (pictured).
When it comes to authentic performance, the Swedish conductor Thomas Dausgaard and his 30-or-so handpicked players refrain from using original musical instruments. But they do draw on elements of the historical approach - with much faster tempos than might be expected and an energetic, straightforward sound. When they released a recording of the late Schubert symphonies just over a year ago, the Daily Telegraph compared their performances to 'having a layer of varnish removed from a much-loved painting.' Tonight we hear Schubert's Symphony No.3, featuring impressively fine and precise string playing and exuberant energy.
Fifteen-year old pianist Karin Kei Nagano has recorded her first disc on the Analekta label, joined by the renowned Cecilia String Quartet in a programme featuring two of Mozart’s early piano concertos. Mozart himself specified that the pieces could be performed either with a large orchestra or with a string quartet. The intimate recording we hear tonight is of Piano Concerto No.13.
The young Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrandez has already been marked out for the very top of his profession with one French magazine saying, 'Pablo Ferrandez will be one of the best cellists in the future - No: he already is'. His concerto debut CD features Dvorak's masterpiece for the instrument.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concerto in A minor BWV.1041
Renaud Capucon directs the Chamber Orchestra of Europe from the violin
Franz Schubert: Symphony No.3 in D major D.200
Thomas Dausgaard conducts the Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No.13 in C major K.415 (Arranged for piano and string quartet)
Piano: Karin Kei Nagano
The Cecilia String Quartet
Antonin Dvorak: Cello Concerto in B minor Opus 104
Cello: Pablo Ferrandez
Radoslaw Szulc conducts Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra
