"The solo line of this concerto was born out of an improvisatory spirit, with a lightness of touch soon to be out of fashion, with a virtuosity of integrity and poise," says violinist
Nicola Benedetti about
Beethoven's
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61. She points out that the work's original dedicatee,
Franz Clement, used the spaces in between the movements by playing the violin with trick fingerings, upside down, or on a single string. Far from bemoaning this,
Benedetti takes it as a key to the spirit of the work, which
Beethoven, contrary to his usual practice, wrote very quickly.
Benedetti's quasi-improvisatory playing is backed by the small
Aurora Orchestra, which (as does the violinist) plays the work from memory. The result is a spontaneous-seeming interpretation with many bold strokes. The opening timpani strokes sound like something out of
Wagner, and the timpani returns strikingly in the cadenza of the first movement, devised by
Benedetti and
Petr Limonov. (The finale cadenza, by
Benedetti and
Wynton Marsalis, is also fresh.) Throughout,
Benedetti seems to be interacting freely with the musicians and with conductor
Nicholas Collon, and the result is a performance of a very familiar concerto that will lead listeners to hear new details in the music. The sound is from an unspecified location but captures the subtle balances here. There are just 41 minutes of music, and the peanut gallery is likely to complain that other works should have been included, but this performance stands perfectly well by itself. It certainly isn't the only way to play
Beethoven's violin concerto, but listeners are likely to be delighted by it. ~ James Manheim
