James Ehnes Baroque Violin Works

It is good to hear James Ehnes, a violinist of real stature, in a new CD devoted to music of the baroque era. Music of that time is at the moment all too often played by dry, rasping sounding violinists trying to sound 300 years old and “authentic”, even though most of the music of that era was composed simply to delight and impress listeners. I suspect that Antonio Vivaldi, a violinist and music lover, would have been happier listening to Ehnes in his ubiquitous Four Seasons, rather than some “authentic” scraper with thin tone and no vibrato. Ehnes, a very “classical” player is accompanied here by the “Sydney Symphony Orchestra” that turns out to be an efficient and agreeable string band. Also on the CD, as Ehnes re-claims the violin heartland for proper violinists playing proper violins, are Tartini's Devil's Trill (with the Kreisler cadenza, thank goodness) and Jean-Marie Leclair's Tambourin sonata. And, quite properly, in the two sonatas Andrew Armstrong plays a good piano rather than a jangling harpsichord.