Album Reviews: Christian Teltzlaff and Prokofiev & Rachmaninov

Prokofiev & Rachmaninov: Orchestral Works. Photo / Supplied

German-born Christian Tetzlaff marks his debut on Ondine, his new Finnish label, with a celebratory round of concertos. While many violinists would search out a more mainstream partner to the popular Mendelssohn Concerto, Tetzlaff chooses less familiar Schumann.

The slow movement of Schumann's 1853 Concerto is the perfect starting point, an almost unsettling evocation of a Mahlerian world, penned some years before the later composer was born.

One senses Tetzlaff and conductor Paavo Jarvi might be aware of this uncanny connection, as the lustrous strings of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra cluster around the violinist's soulful outpouring.

The Concerto's outer movements, alas, are less distinguished. The heart-stopping few minutes of storm and stress that launch the piece dissipate somewhat when the soloist enters; the Finale in Polonaise rhythms has an obsessiveness that is of more interest clinically than musically.

Schumann sets up some cruel stamina tests for violinists and he is positively unsparing in the 1853 Fantasy that launches this album.

Although there is recompense in Tetzlaff's seemingly inexhaustible energy and some luscious woodwind solos from the orchestra, the piece itself is alarmingly discursive.

If Schumann fails to convince, then Mendelssohn will doubtlessly be the ideal antidote.

French violinist Genevieve Laurenceau is all beguiling elegance in Prokofiev's Second Concerto on her new Naive CD.

There may be shivers of regret in the first movement's tinges of romantic nostalgia; Laurenceau's performance would certainly make us believe so.

Russian conductor Tugan Sokhiev, working with his own Orchestre Nationale du Capitale de Toulouse, brings just the right satiric thrust to Prokofiev's Finale.

Yet, after this, Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances show just as zesty an appreciation of the Russian composer as contented as emigre. So seductive.

Christian Tetzlaff plays Mendelssohn & Schumann
(Ondine, through Triton Music)

Stars: 4/5

Prokofiev & Rachmaninov: Orchestral Works
(Naive, through Ode Records)

Stars: 5/5

Verdict: "A celebration of concertos reveals two special relationships between violinist and conductor."