James Ehnes records Bartók with the BBC Philharmonic on Chandos

James Ehnes violin and viola
BBC Philharmonic
Gianandrea Noseda conductor

Bela Bartók (1881-1945)
Violin Concerto No.1, BB.48a
Violin Concerto No.2, BB.117
Viola Concerto, Sz.120, BB.128

Released September 2011
Click here for further details on the Chandos website

Audio

Hear James Ehnes in the opening of Bartók Violin Concerto No.2:

Hear James Ehnes in the opening of the second movement of Bartók Violin Concerto No.1:

Reviews

“Chandos could not have chosen a more ideal team for this project than James Ehnes, Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic.

Here they demonstrate an instinctive understanding for the different musical characteristics of each work... While encapsulating these distinctive emotional worlds, they nonetheless maintain a tight grip over the music’s structural direction. In the first movement of the Concerto No. 1, Ehnes’s supple phrasing of the opening melodic line, followed by the beautifully veiled orchestral accompaniment, sets up a great sense of expectancy. It is sustained throughout the movement as both soloist and conductor patiently build up the intensity to the final climax. They are equally impressive in charting the almost schizophrenic changes of mood that characterise all three movements of the Second while Ehnes’s dark tone, coupled with the more subdued orchestral accompaniment, brings tremendous poignancy to the Adagio Religioso of the Viola Concerto.”
BBC Music Magazine, five stars, October 2011

“This is a new Bartók disc that clearly deserves serious attention... Ehnes phrases the opening paragraph [of the Second Concerto] so beguilingly, and brings real character to a movement that can become unduly discursive in less imaginative hands...

Ehnes’s unaccompanied opening [of the First Concerto] is beautifully posed... the long lyrical lines of the first movement are wonderfully conveyed, and in the ensuing Allegro giocoso Ehnes is excitingly committed... This is one of the best recent recordings I’ve heard of this Viola Concerto, wholly alert to its moments of capriciousness and drama as well as its poetry.”
International Record Review, September 2011

“His sinewy, lean tone is perfect for the mature Bartok’s stark, rebarbative harmonic language, yet he perceives the lyrical, folkloric vein that runs through the composer’s greatest masterpieces. Ehnes makes the attractive but uncharacteristic early concerto worth hearing, but he really warms to the late lyrical manner Bartok adopted for the Viola Concerto."
Sunday Times, CD of the week, September 2011

“The opening folk-inflected melody is beautifully unfurled by Ehnes in a performance that, throughout, is ear-catchingly alert to the music’s range of tonal shading, its abrupt switches of pace and mood, its powerful bravura and its pungent lyricism... This whole disc, tracing three periods of Bartók’s career up to the final Viola Concerto gives a remarkable insight into Bartók’s compositional individuality in performances of captivating artistry.”
Daily Telegraph, five stars, September 2011

The recording is a complement, as well as a compliment, to the very superior musicianship at work here... Ehnes presents a vivid portrait of Béla Bartók as a modern romanticist who never lacked for something to say. Highly recommended.”
Houston Public Radio, September 2011

“This persuasive and sweet-toned Canadian violinist could probably draw honey from the most waspish dissonance... Ehnes enjoys the lushness of its [First Violin Concerto] opening movement, his wistful portamenti evoking what Bartok described as "times that were happy even if only half-happiness"... Throughout, soloist and orchestra, under the baton of the marvellous Gianandrea Noseda, make clarity and precision their priority."
New Zealand Herald, September 2011

“Ehnes’s sweet tone and sensitive musicianship make this an unexpectedly rewarding disc.”
Financial Times, September 2011

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