It is sometimes good to
hear old warhorses flogged mercilessly into battle. Nemanja
Radulovic is no shrinking violet, and his performance of
Tchaikovsky's violin concerto I have just listened to (from an
off-air Catalan radio broadcast) makes the sparks fly; I looked
anxiously at my amplifier, at times. The orchestra – GIOrquestra
under Marcel Sabaté – comes over well, in excellent sound.
Radulovic must be the very devil to accompany, with his frequent
almost spontaneous tempo and dynamic changes. He makes Mischa Elman
sound positively straight-laced. There are a few fluffs in
Radulovic's performance, but if you are going to play with this
degree of intensity, it is only to be expected.
There are other ways of
playing this concerto, apart from the warhorse route. I recently
admired Vilde Frang's lyrical account, and also Georg
Kulenkampff's old-world charm. I have also admired Julia Fischer,
Vadim Repin and Mischa Elman in this concerto. Radulovic gets my
three stars for his violin playing. It does not necessarily make me
long to hear him in Mozart, but he certainly starred in Paganini
recently, and his Tchaikovsky concerto gets the juices flowing. A
must performance for lovers of virtuoso violin playing; but
not necessarily a must for lovers of Tchaikovsky's music. For a good modern recording of the Tchaikovsky concerto, Vilde Frang is hard to beat.
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