Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody in A major, Op. 11 No. 1

“The soloist in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto was the beguiling Chloë Hanslip, a sizzling young product of the Yehudi Menuhin School. Hanslip produces a full-blooded sound… Her dazzling technical proficiency made sparks fly.” The Independent, concert review 2005

“It's excellent sense to couple John Adams's Violin Concerto with John Corigliano's Chaconne based on his film music for The Red Violin. Both require bravura of the highest order… This is the fourth recording of the Adams Concerto. …Hanslip's new version seems to me undoubtedly the one to acquire.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2006 *****

“As an overall concept this album is a mess. Franz Waxman's arrangement of Enescu's First Romanian Rhapsody is positioned before the Adams Concerto and sounds like an encore before the main event. Waxman's Tristan and Isolde Fantasia pushes Wagner towards Cecil B DeMille histrionics, while John Corigliano's hacked-together Chaconne is episodic and rhetorical and is severely lacking in the material department.
This is a pity because nothing should hide the fact that Chloë Hanslip is the sort of musician every teenager forced to practise their scales dreams of becoming. The richness and clarity of her tone is beyond learning, and she demonstrates such profound empathy for John Adams's 1993 Violin Concerto that Gidon Kremer (Nonesuch) can consider himself completely outplayed. This is the sort of performance that secures a reputation for life.
The first movement is a particular challenge, as an unwinding melodic line generates itself over a quarter-hour span. Kremer plays the notes mechanically but Hanslip deconstructs their meaning and pieces together a cogent narrative direction that's a bona fide interpretation.
The sing-song ballad quality of the slow middle movement unlocks her lyrical imagination, while the tricky moto perpetuo of the violin part zigzags and breakdances across occasional Nancarrow-like rhythmic overlays in an exuberant finale. Assertive and enthused accompaniment from Slatkin and the RPO, too – everybody's doing Adams the greatest of service.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“…Chloë Hanslip is the sort of musician every teenager forced to practise their scales dreams of becoming. The richness and clarity of her tone is beyond learning, and she demonstrates such profound empathy for John Adams's 1993 Violin Concerto that Gidon Kremer... consider himself completely outplayed. This is the sort of performance that secures a reputation for life.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2006

“Enescu's three suites stand in relation to the symphonies rather as Tchaikovsky's suites relate to his symphonic works. The First opens with a striking prelude for strings in unison which in turn gives way to a gorgeous Menuet lent. The more formal Second Suite (which falls between the First and Second Symphonies) is based on Baroque models, while the relatively 'late' Third Suite, named Villageoise (it dates from 1938), overflows with invention, whether imitations of birdsong and children at play, or exquisite tonepainting of nature by day and night. Foster also offers us the early, 23-minute Symphonie concertante for cello and orchestra, his soloist Franco Maggio-Ormezowski unfolding its generous stream of melody with a warm, fluid tone.
Lawrence Foster's performances of these fascinating if occasionally over-effusive works provided a fitting tribute for the 50th anniversary of Enescu's death (1955). Do give this music a try. It combines the freshness of Dvorák with the earthand- spirit daring of Bartók; and while not quite on a level with either, it comes pretty damned close.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This lively companion-set to the multi-layered symphonies (reviewed in July) balances the Romaniana for which Enescu was famous with a very individual neo-classicism. Drily-recorded but dedicated accounts.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2005

“This is a playful CD. That is not to say that she doesn't take her music-making seriously. Playing as accomplished as this could not occur without devotion to her art. It is more Ursuleasa seems not to take herself very seriously - an altogether different thing!...her very colourful playing [has] been captured to thrilling effect by the engineering team.” International Record Review, September 2011