The Chinese violinist Tianwa Yang is a supremely elegant player, a quality that made her recordings of the complete works for violin of Sarasate, plus the six solo sonatas of Eugène Ysaÿe, so memorable. Her latest recorded venture is the two violin concertos of Sergei Prokofiev, plus Prokofiev's slender sonata for solo violin. Prokofiev's two concertos are very much written for violin and orchestra, with the various sections of the orchestra playing a major part. The two concertos do not have the emotional challenges of a Mozart, Beethoven, Elgar or Shostakovich but they do demand an expert soloist and a good orchestra; they get both here with Tianwa and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor is Jun Märkl.
The recorded balance is good. The all-important orchestral contribution is well featured. As reproduced on my equipment, the sound overall is good, though Tianwa's violin often sounds steely and harsh in the upper registers, especially when she is playing forte or fortissimo; hardly the fault of Tianwa or Guarneri del Gesù, one suspects. More likely the recording engineers. So: attractive music, a superb soloist, admirable orchestral support. But the harsh sound in the solo violin's upper register does niggle on occasions though, of course, different play-back equipment might modify this.
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