Prokofiev & Stravinsky - Violin Concertos - Cho-Liang LIN, Esa-Pekka Salonen

Composer(s): Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev
Artist(s): Cho-Liang Lin (violin)
Conductor: Esa-Pekka Salonen
Orchestra/Ensemble: Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Sony Classical 53969
Release Date: November 1, 1994
Format: CD (1 Disc)
Time: 69:16
SPARS Code: DDD












Reviewer: Lionel Choi (Staff Writer) from Prokofiev.org
The best part of Lin's CD has to be his dazzling account of the second concerto. It is easily one of the best accounts ever made. He combines the lyrical finesse of Kyung Wha Chung and the power of Perlman and Heifetz to give a truly satisfying performance, swaggering and spiky in the final movement, direct, firm and lyrical in the first two. The most amazing thing about Lin's playing is his ability to maintain perfect intonation throughout the work. He fares very well in the first concerto too, though he does not displace Mintz here, whose account is very special. (In fact, beside Mintz, Lin's opening movement sounds rather too direct and literal.) Esa-Pekka Salonen, a very fine interpreter of Prokofiev's music, shines here and lends sympathetic support, with many imaginative touches here and there, though the Los Angeles players are a little less stylish when compared to the Chicago members. The recording is excellent, with every orchestral detail picked up by the microphones. (This CD is coupled with the Stravinsky Violin Concerto, which unfortunately, does not receive a performance in the same class as the Prokofiev, though it is still excellent by any standards.)

Reviewer: David Hurwitz
Cho-Liang Lin's performances of these two attractive violin concertos have been almost unanimously praised since they first came out (nothing in the classical music business is completely unanimous!), and the Stravinsky coupling makes this disc an excellent value for the money. The two composers couldn't be further apart stylistically. Prokofiev continues to mine the great Russian Romantic tradition, aided by his wonderfully personal melodic gift. All of Stravinsky's best tunes, by contrast, were borrowed from someone else. His dry, witty, neo-classicism sounds like a cold shower after his compatriot's warmth, but it's first rate entertainment all the same. The digital sound is great, too.