Elgar - Violin Concerto; Violin Sonata

The Guardian 0

Renaud Capuçon/Stephen Hough/LSO/Simon Rattle (Warner Classics)
Simon Rattle takes the concerto back to the 19th century and Renaud Capuçon’s partnership with Stephen Hough for the sonata is a meeting of equals

The Violin Concerto is not only one of Elgar’s greatest achievements, but also one of the finest of all 20th-century violin concertos. But the orchestral opening of Renaud Capuçon’s account, as moulded by Simon Rattle, takes the concerto firmly back into the 19th century, and when the soloist eventually enters, the generous space he allows himself for his initial phrases suggests that he shares that view of the work, too.

The recording was made in LSO St Luke’s, London, last September, and it’s the third studio version of the concerto that Rattle has conducted; Ida Haendel and Nigel Kennedy were the earlier soloists, both with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He certainly sees his role in the concerto as more interventionist than many conductors do, especially when compared with, say, Adrian Boult on Yehudi Menuhin’s celebrated second recording, or Vernon Handley on Kennedy’s earlier one, and that, it seems to me, is not always to the advantage of this performance.