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Chandos4
Sibelius: Violin Concerto, Serenades, Humoresques, Earnest Melodies, Suite
James Ehnes, violin; Bergen Philharmonic; Edward Gardner, conductor
Chandos, 2024
James Ehnes has quickly become the most-recorded Canadian violinist ever. He has recorded virtually all the major concertos, most of the important violin and piano repertoire, and much else besides. And he has done it all with consummate skill. This latest Ehnes release brings together all the music written by Sibelius for violin and orchestra. The Violin Concerto of 1903 is the best-known of these pieces and, unfortunately, there is no other solo work for the violin of Sibelius’s that comes even close.
Ehnes uses his technical skill and beautiful tone to great effect in the concerto and Gardner and his Bergen forces provide excellent support. As it happens, there is another new recording of the concerto released this month and it, too, features a Norwegian orchestra: Janine Jansen with the Oslo Philharmonic conducted by Klaus Mäkelä (Decca). Both performances are first-rate although I would give a slight edge to Jansen for the extra passion in her performance and to Mäkelä who brings out a great deal of fascinating detail.
The smaller violin pieces are often melodious and/or virtuosic, but sometimes they end so abruptly one wonders if Sibelius had actually finished them.
