Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64

1SACD + Bonus DVD

Talented violinist Philippe Quint combines lyricism, poetry and impeccable virtuosity in his performances and has twice been nominated for a Grammy award. The Times referred to his “bravura technique and unflagging energy.” He has impressed audiences across the world and here performs these works on a Stradivarius violin.

Václav Hudeček ranks among the most gifted violinists, not only on a Czech but also an international scale, to have graced a 20th-century concert stage. Following his debut in London (at the tender age of 15!) with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, he appeared at the most prestigious concert venues (Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, Osaka Festival Hall, Sydney Opera) with worldrenowned orchestras (Berliner Philharmoniker, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, NHK Philharmonic Orchestra, Gewandhaus Leipzig, etc.). David Oistrakh, who immediately recognised Hudeček’s exceptional talent, was his teacher and mentor, and on several albums accompanied him as a conductor too.

Hudeček made the recordings of the four greatest Romantic violin concertos for Supraphon (between the ages of 22 and 28) with Jiří Bělohlávek and Václav Smetáček. They bear witness to the remarkable musicality and technical skill of the Czech representative of the Russian violin school and many years later have lost none of their power and should occupy a place in the collections of all lovers of the violin’s passionate tone.

The four most beautiful Romantic concertos rendered in the rich timbres of Václav Hudeček’s violin.

Mendelssohn was considered by many to be a Classicist, but in fact his E minor Violin Concerto, composed in 1844, was innovative in many ways. He dispensed with an opening ritornello, introducing the solo instrument with its impassioned main theme after only a bar and also linking the three movements. The pattern of the concerto without ritornello has been the norm ever since. Brahms was a generation younger, and his Violin Concerto in D major was not written until 1878. However, it is more authentically Classical in its form than the Mendelssohn concerto, and opens with an expansive ritornello, as well as allowing the soloist to improvise the cadenza. Both of these ravishing masterpieces have become cornerstones of the violin repertoire.

The great Polish-born violinist Henryk Szeryng had a strong association with the Brahms Concerto throughout his life, and performed it at the very beginning of his career right through to his last concert. He won many awards for his performances of Brahms’s violin repertoire. He brings his technical assurance and elegant style to both these performances, and is joined by the renowned partnership of Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The recordings were made in the warm and resonant acoustic of the Concergebouw Hall, Amsterdam in 1973 (Brahms Concerto) and 1976 (Mendelssohn Concerto).