In 2024, interesting new recording releases appear to be drying up. Perhaps the back catalogues are now too daunting to encourage new recordings of old masters. Looking at my 2024 listening, I am surprised to find my 'prize winners' consisting entirely of European females. Baiba Skride from Latvia recorded a really excellent performance of Benjamin Britten's suddenly popular violin concerto. Not to be outdone, Isabelle Faust from Germany also produced an exceptional Britten concerto. Then Vilde Frang from Norway fought back with an exemplary performance of the Elgar concerto. And, finally, Marie Cantagrill from France performed a magnificent Tchaikovsky violin concerto.
A year of European female violinists recording violin concertos, then. Notable omissions from the violin concerto list are new recordings of the two concertos of Szymanowski, the concerto by Goldmark, the concerto by Glazunov. The violin concerto of William Walton was a favourite of Jascha Heifetz (but not of mine). Maybe these favourites of past decades will be recorded by European women next year?
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