John Adams: Violin Concerto; John Corigliano: Red Violin "Chaconne"

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Violinist Chloë Hanslip here tackles John Adams's great Violin Concerto and comes out a winner. The beautiful piece, with its almost endlessly spun melodies from the soloist, is as unexpectedly interesting as it is ambitious. It was a joint commission by two orchestras and the New York City Ballet. Its purpose for dance is clear from the start, but there's far more to it than that. The first and central movements are rhapsodic; the third is all jittery movement. This is as fine a performance as Robert McDuffie's on Telarc. The rest of the CD is made up of fluff: Corigliano's Red Violin Chaconne is a surprisingly noisy, exciting piece, but hardly on the same level as the Adams. Franz Waxman's "version" of Enescu's First Romanian Rhapsody is a zippy, vulgar two-and-a-half minutes, and the same composer's Fantasia from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is a fatty, heavy, Romantic piece of costume jewelry with piano solo (nicely played by Charles Owen). This bargain issue is needed for the Adams; the rest of the music is barely worth hearing, though Hanslip plays it all expertly and Leonard Slatkin and the Royal Philharmonic accompany with zest. --Robert Levine

• Track Listings : Disc 1
  • Chaconne
  • Romanian Rhapsody No.1
  • Tristan And Isolde Fantasia - Charles Owen
  • I. Quarter Note 78
  • II. Chaconne: Body Through Which The Dream Flows
  • III. Toccare

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