Britten: Violin Concerto / Cello Symphony

Being new to the works of Britten, I purchased this out of curiosity, and I have not stopped playing it since. The Violin Concerto (1939) must be one of the most underrated in the whole repertoire for that instrument. It is quite simply magnificent, from the initial drum motif to the moving fade out at the end, by way of a passacaglia that is truly thrilling. Rebecca Hirsch plays magnificently throughout. What wonderful music!!
The Cello Symphony (1963), a more complex and demanding work is another masterpiece eloquently played by Tim Hugh. Deep and mysterious with a profound adagio, you discover more of it with every listen. I would recommend this CD to anyone trying to explore Britten's instrumental music. A must buy.

My estimation of this disc has fluctuated a bit since acquiring it, and it's entirely possible it could change again. The disc is not without positive features, in particular Rebecca Hirsch's gorgeous tone for the Violin Concerto. But to my ear there are nagging deficits I can't ignore, that I suspect come down more to the recording and location than to the performance itself. I was going to observe that these are probably not works that a newcomer to Britten should start with, nor is this the disc for a newcomer to these works, but I see such a comment has already been obviated by an earlier reviewer. Fair enough.

I actually purchased the disc in order to get an alternative take on the Cello Symphony, having failed for many years to make much headway with Britten's own premiere recording with its dedicatee, Rostropovich, Britten: Cello Symphony. This worked. This more recent version gave me a way into this difficult, but ultimately profound work, but then bought me to the ironic realisation that the earlier version was superior in just about every way except with respect to tape hiss. Under Britten there is far more dynamic interplay between orchestra and soloist, and the orchestra here sounds wan and anaemic compared to the cataclysmic violence that Britten evokes at certain points. The Cello playing on this disc does not seem especially expressive either, but I have a feeling that is probably more to do with the recording balance between it, the acoustic space and the orchestra. So while I found this a helpful version of the Cello Symphony, it no way supersedes or replaces the Britten original which, now I understand it, I suspect is still probably definitive.

On the other hand, the Violin Concerto, a work I had not heard for over thirty years, has turned out to be the main attraction of the disc. Its slow, fast, slow movement structure made it a difficult work for me to latch on to, but with repeated listening it has really got under my skin, till I found myself quite transfixed by it just this morning. It is not really a work about virtuoso fireworks, rather an opportunity for the soloist to weave a magical spell. Again, I don't think the recording or conditions are optimum. It's squeaky clean but something is getting lost in the hall acoustic. However, in a curious way this works in this piece's favour. This is because if one really strains to hear through to the detail, as one is obliged to do, subtleties and nuances of fractal delicacy emerge, sonic as well as performance, that are really breathtakingly beautiful. I think I will be looking at other versions of this work before long. Indeed I have my eye on Berg; Britten - Violin Concertos for its tempting pairing with the Berg. Nonetheless, I am grateful for having come back to this marvellous work through Hirsch's beautiful playing.

I was forcefully struck by the echoes of Shostakovich in the violin concerto eventhough, being Britten, the music is less haunting and more whimsical. The cello concerto is a different animal; by contrast, I was struck by echoes of prokofiev. The pieces are beautifully played