Natacha Kudritskaya as soloist has impressed mightily. Her pairing with Daniel Rowland playing violin and piano works by Enescu represents the best recording of that repertoire that I've heard. I expected to enjoy this. But not this much. It bowled me over. The Chausson, recorded big and bold, is like a musical tidal wave washing over the listener. It sounds lush and gorgeous and rich and beautiful and daring – and all-encompassing. The listener sits nearly paralyzed in awe and delight. The playing offers unabashedly over the top opulence and sheer decadence, in the manner of a chocolate lava cake topped with chocolate ice cream and chocolate shavings and fresh whipped cream and a chocolate covered strawberry. It’s all too terribly much, yet one devours it greedily. Kudritskaya and Rowland hand-picked the accompanying soloists, and they are all of one mind. Gloriously so.
But wait, there’s more! What follows is something rare, transcribed Debussy that works. Craig White did the transcription duties for
Canope,
Bruyeres, and
La Puerto, and the duo deliver. The very familiar pieces take on a different life with Rowland’s super-rich, almost dark-hued playing sounding almost viola-like at times, until he must soar into the uppermost registers. The melodies melt the heart. Some of the string writing, or at least playing, adds an air of vague eastern sounds, which makes sense given the composer. These transcriptions do not match let alone supplant the originals, but Mr White’s work is good enough that I shall probably have to sample more of his scribblings.
The disc closes out with Franck’s Violin Sonata. Here’s a work that needs to be overcooked to succeed, and the duo delivers. Really, this piece cannot be over-interpreted. I want gobs of vibrato, outsized dynamic contrasts, swelling forte playing, the whole thing. Kudritskaya and Rowland agree. What’s best is that the musical roles are often reversed, with Rowland’s rich, thick tone adding weight and Kudritskaya’s often crisp, nimble piano playing adding propulsion. Sure, she hammers out low register playing when needed, but she keeps things moving forward while the violinist sort of meanders in the most appealing way. This recording is so good it almost makes me want to engage in comparative listening.
Given Kudritskaya and Rowland’s style, I’d love to hear what they could do with Schumann, Strauss, Szymanowski, and Korngold. More common core rep violin sonatas would surely delight, as well. And they may be able to deliver Bartok Violin Sonatas to rival Zsigmondy and Nisse in terms of heat.
I streamed this, so it cannot rate as a purchase of the year this year, but I think I shall have to add it to my collection next year.