Nicola Benedetti plays Mendelssohn, MacMillan & Mozart

Nicola Benedetti Plays Szymanowski, Chausson, Saint-Saëns	Nicola Benedetti plays Vaughan Williams & Tavener Violinist Nicola Benedetti presents her third recording for DG, combining the lyrical beauty of The Lark Ascending (Vaughan Williams' aural portrait of a lark as it spirals up to the heavens), with two brand new works written specifically or her by Sir John Tavener. Though he is ...	Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1; Spohr: Violin Concerto No. 8 The Paganini concerto, with its combination of wild virtuosity and fatty, gushy melody, is a favorite of audiences and violinists; fiddlers love to strut their stuff and the public can't resist anything so juicy. Hilary Hahn here throws her violinist hat into the ring with Perlma...	Janine Jansen: Concertos & Romance Janine Jansen has gained a worldwide critical following for her fresh look at the pillars of core violin repertoire and her intense and lyrical approach to the music. After her successful Vivaldi Four Seasons recording, Jansen presents her first major concerto album. This reco...	The Romantic Cello
Hilary Hahn: A Portrait	Schoenberg Violin Concerto Op.36/Sibelius Violin Concerto Op.47 In another original pairing violinist Hilary Hahn brings together the familiar, highly commercial and long-awaited recording of the famous Sibelius Violin Concerto with the rarely performed Violin Concerto by Arnold Schoenberg. Hahn brings out the romantic qualities of Schoenberg...	Mozart: The Violin Sonatas There are many excellent recordings of Mozart's Violin Sonatas on disc to choose from, but Anne-Sophie Mutter's interpretations rise quickly to the top. Her approach is certainly closer to "old fashioned" than "authentic instrument." She sings the lines as if they were arias an...	Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (Hybr) Young violinists sometimes turn war horses like the Tchaikovsky Concerto into superficial virtuoso displays to show off their technique, but Julia Fischer gives us a thoughtfully nuanced view of the work that exposes details often ignored. Her tone is beautiful, and she varies i...	Vivaldi: The Four Seasons - Janine Jansen Janine Jansen Follows her First Decca Album of Violin Favorites with this High-energy Account of Vivaldi's Four Violin Concertos, Known and Loved as 'the Four Seasons'. The Dutch Violinist Leads her Specially Selected Group of Soloists in a Fresh Look at the Most Loved of all Cla...

THE EXCITEMENT CONTINUES: AWESOME PERFORMANCES!!
Five HUGE Stars. Nicola Benedetti, the brilliant fiery Scottish violin prodigy, continues her ascent up the classical music hierachy with stunning and beautiful performances of Mozart, Mendelssohn, and James MacMillan on her second CD. The 'Piece De Resistance' is the tenacious 27 minute 'Tour De Force' performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 that has many moments of pure euphoric musical delight rippling from her bow, especially the Allegro non troppo movement, as she superbly negotiates the tricky currents. Her soliloquy during the Allegro molto appassionato is spellbinding. Not announced on the cover are two wonderful performances of Schubert: a deeply reverential Ave Maria D839 (violin and harp), notable for the declarative multi-string second pass thru, and the elegant Serenade ("Standchen" No 4 from Schwanengesand D957) with orchestra. The Academy of St Martin in the Fields orchestra with James MacMillan at the baton is absolutely stupendous. The Mozart pieces are delivered with great empathy and panache with Nicola, I'm told, doing double duty as performer and conductor. Quite a feat. When composers begin writing music specifically for an artist, you know the artist has arrived. As in her debut CD, there is music composed especially for her herein. This time countryman James MacMillan has composed two movements entitled "From 'Ayrshire' " for his fellow Scot to tantalize us with in a world premier: the Largo is florid beauty with Nicky spinning out yearning 5 note and 6 note motifs; and the second movement, which is instructed to be played "like a very fast reel", is bombastic wonder with Nicola's sizzling violin work producing multi-string incandescent notes. One day she'll have to give us a full CD of these specially composed works, to include the complete expansion of the "Fragment for the Virgin" from her debut CD. This CD is totally enjoyable and at times even overpowering. Ms Benedetti seems to have the natural capability of producing emotional, powerful performances, far beyond her teenage years, that directly impact the listener's emotions. Her debut CD with Daniel Harding and the London Symphony Orchestra was a shot across the bow of the classical world, announcing her arrival as a member of the leading edge of the 'next wave' of young virtuosi, in the wake of the marvelous Hilary Hahn and company. And the excitement continues with this CD. I can't say enough about Nicky's musicianship. My Highest Recommendation. Five BLAZING Stars. (*Trivia: Nicola plays a 1751 Petrus Guarnerius of Venice violin. *This review is based on a 9 track ITunes download.)