Britten/Korngold: Violin Concertos
Vilde Frang, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra- Korngold : Violin Concerto in D major Op.35: Moderato nobile
- Korngold : Violin Concerto in D major Op.35: Romanze
- Korngold : Violin Concerto in D major Op.35: Allegro assai vivace
- Britten : Violin Concerto in D minor Op.15: Moderato con moto – Agitato – Tempo primo
- Britten : Violin Concerto in D minor Op.15: Vivace – Animando – Largamente – Cadenza
- Britten : Violin Concerto in D minor Op.15: Passacaglia: Andante lento (Un poco meno mosso)
Vilde Frang has long dreamed of recording the violin concertos of Erich Korngold and Benjamin Britten – two highly contrasted pieces, both written in the USA around the time of World War II, and a unique pairing on CD. As The Strad magazine has said: “Vilde Frang … weaves an emotional narrative that is utterly spellbinding … it feels as though the music’s inner soul is being revealed for the very first time.”
This is the young Norwegian violinist’s fifth Warner Classics release. Early 2015 brought a programme devoted entirely to Mozart, but her previous concerto discs were also notable for imaginative musical matchmaking: Tchaikovsky/Nielsen and Sibelius/Prokofiev.
Both concertos on this new disc were written when their composers were exiles in the USA around the time of World War II: the Korngold was completed in 1945, the Britten in 1939. Both composers had been child prodigies and both concertos are centred around the key of D, the most ‘natural’ key on the violin and the tonal focus for the violin concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.