Walton: Violin Concerto / Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Violin Concerto No. 2 ‘The Prophets'

Heifetz, Jascha

8.111367

William Walton’s Violin Concerto, heard here in its revised version in a now legendary recording conducted by the composer, was undoubtedly Jascha Heifetz’s most successful commission. Like the other Romantic works on this disc by Camille Saint-Saëns and Christian Sinding, it perfectly suited Heifetz’s polished elegance and scintillating virtuosity. Written for and premièred by Heifetz, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Second Violin Concerto was described by the composer as ‘a kind of Biblical concerto, an evocation of times in the glorious past’. Although the work predates the composer’s Hollywood days by seven years, any one of the three movements, which portray the Old Testament prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Elijah, would not be out of place as part of the soundtrack to an epic, Biblical film.

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

Naxos

24-03-2011

747313336722