Linus Roth and Virtuoso Dances

Dance rhythms are at the heart of much Western music, classical, folk, and popular. A new CD by the German violinist Linus Roth is titled Virtuoso Dances and promises seven different pieces of music with a strong dance element. Bela Bartok and Igor Stravinsky do not rank high on my favourite composer list. For Bartok, I nevertheless like his Six Romanian Dances for violin and piano, plus his Concerto for Orchestra, and for Stravinsky, his ballets Firebird, Petrouchka, and the Divertimento for violin and piano. The Romanian Dances, and the Divertimento are both on this CD.

Four of Brahms' Hungarian Dances are well played. Antonio Bazzini's La Ronde des Lutins is only worth playing if the violinist is a real virtuoso and never struggles; Roth's playing here is exemplary. I didn't think much of Astor Piazzolla's Le grand tango. Wieniawski's ever-green Polonaise de concert is given a rousing rendition by Roth, and the CD ends with Karol Szymanowski's Notturno et Tarantella.

I have come across the playing of Linus Roth only fleetingly in the past. This CD impresses both with the choice of repertoire, and the violin playing. Roth's borrowed “Dancla” Strad of 1703 sounds a fine instrument. A successful CD.

Note: On my copy of the CD, Track 7 (the Sinfonia of Stravinsky's Divertimento) kept replaying; it was only after the third time round that I realised what was happening. Sort of “play it again, Sam”, over and over again.

Leif Ove Andsnes plays Mozart

I am always suspicious of musicians who are famous for being famous. They probably have superb PR representation and connections. Or they appear frequently on public television. I have the impression that little-known artists are often superior to their better-known colleagues. There are exceptions, of course: Yuja Wang is a publicity hound, but compensates by being an extraordinarily good pianist.

No one could accuse the Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes of being a publicity hound. He is, however, a really excellent and musical pianist. I am currently listening to his playing in three Mozart piano concertos, plus a few other works all composed in 1785. He is partnered with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra that he also conducts. The Mozart piano concertos do not normally need a separate, eminent conductor (unless the pianist and orchestra are pretty inexperienced). Andsnes is an excellent pianist for Mozart; like Clara Haskil, he understands well that Mozart requires playing that combines elegance, sophistication, and simplicity. Here he plays three piano concertos: numbers 20, 21 and 22. The two CD set is well balanced and well recorded. To complete the set for 1785, Andsnes plays the C minor fantasia K 475, conducts the band in the Meistermusik K 477, and combines with colleagues in the G minor piano quartet K 478.

Mozart's piano concertos were, of course, written for Mozart himself to perform. It is a great pity that, after the early K 219, he wrote no violin concertos, but we do have 27 piano concertos to compensate, many of them from his prime years after juvenile excursions. In the piano concertos, the orchestral part is mainly that of a back-up group, with no intention for a partnership. The 22^nd piano concerto (like the 26^th) is not one of Mozart's greatest creations, and the G minor piano quartet is dominated by Mozart the star at the piano, with the violin, viola and cello just providing support from time to time. This comes out in this recording, but it's Mozart wish, not that of the balance engineers