Nicola Benedetti, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Karabits – Shostakovich, Glazunov: Violin Concertos (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 58:59 minutes | 1,10 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Sensational violinist Nicola Benedetti returns with a riveting recording of Shostakovich’s monumental Violin Concerto (No. 1). This new recording follows Benedetti’s chart-topping success with Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy (Homecoming, 2014) and Korngold’s Violin Concerto (Silver Violin, 2012).
Benedetti’s own encounter with Russian music-making began in her childhood, the seriousness and intensity making a powerful impact on the young violinist: “I was thrust into a different world” says Nicola, “a little terrifying, extremely demanding but so loving, so warm”.
Together with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and conductor Kirill Karabits, the dark, introspective Shostakovich Violin Concerto is brought to life in a compelling performance packed full of energy, powerful torment, and breath-taking passion. The demonic scherzo notches up intensity; the passionate third movement – possibly one of the finest in the canon of violin concertos – has a grand magnificence; and the astonishing Burlesque rounds off this visceral recording.
A work with a tormented history itself – the hostile political environment of Russian state censorship at the time of composition in the 1940’s meant that Shostakovich kept the concerto unpublished until after Stalin’s death – it was first performed in 1955 by David Oistrakh, and immediately highly regarded internationally.
Programmed alongside Shostakovich’s assertive, uncompromising masterpiece, is Glazunov’s bold, colourful Violin Concerto. A late-Romantic work, the Glazunov is notable for its lyricism; Benedetti’s generous, radiant performance is uplifting and finely crafted.
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Nicola Benedetti – Marsalis: Violin Concerto; Fiddle Dance Suite (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:03 minutes | 1,22 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca
Nicola Benedetti’s new album on Decca Classics features premiere recordings of two works written especially for her by jazz musician Wynton Marsalis: Violin Concerto in D and Fiddle Dance Suite for Solo Violin.
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Nicola Benedetti, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Rory Macdonald – Homecoming – A Scottish Fantasy (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:23:51 minutes | 1,52 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Nicola Benedetti’s Homecoming: A Scottish Fantasy is the violinist’s tribute to her native land, in celebration of Scotland’s Year of Homecoming 2014. Of primary interest to classical fans is Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy in E flat major, a large-scale Romantic concerto based on Scottish folk music, and Benedetti gives a transparent and brilliant performance that alleviates some of the work’s heavy Germanic character. Bruch’s free use of Scottish folk songs as themes, including some melodies of Robert Burns, suggested the three arrangements that immediately follow it, Ae fond kiss; My love is like a red, red, rose; and Auld Lang Syne, three of the poet’s best-known songs. The rest of the program consists of other traditional Scottish tunes, and Benedetti pours her warmest expressions into these airs. In two songs, Bothan a bh’aig Fionnghuala and Coisich a Rùin, Benedetti is joined by Julie Fowlis, whose fluent delivery in Gaelic gives the songs authentic color and texture. Even though this album has been promoted in connection with public festivities, such as the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup, it is actually a personal and intimate album, thanks to Benedetti’s ingratiating playing and the poignant tone of many of the selections. ~ Blair Sanderson
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Nicola Benedetti – Elgar (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 58:47 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
This is a big outing for violinist Nicola Benedetti: the Elgar Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61, is a difficult work both technically and interpretively, and although it has been popular on recordings since the first one appeared in 1929, it is not exactly a crowd-pleaser; Benedetti scores here with a reading that steers a middle path between some well-established approaches. The Elgar concerto has an unusually wide range of interpretations of the tempo markings, with total timings clocking in at anywhere from 42 minutes (Jascha Heifetz) to 54 minutes (Nigel Kennedy, in one of the favored recordings of the last two decades of the 20th century). Benedetti comes in just shy of 47 minutes, and she catches the liquid speed of Heifetz while leaving room for the “awfully emotional, too emotional” quality Elgar himself described of the work. Her entrance in the first movement doesn’t have quite the magnetic lyricism of Menuhin’s, but her turns through the music’s double stops and general veering quality generate quite a bit of momentum in both the first movement and the finale, interrupted quite effectively by a very free third-movement cadenza. For those wanting to hear Benedetti show what she can do in a more sentimental mood, the curtain is rung down by a trio of short violin-and-piano pieces, with Petr Limonov providing sensitive, quiet accompaniment. A fine Elgar concerto that can stand comparison with the other big ones on the market.
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Nicola Benedetti – Baroque (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 52:24 minutes | 1,00 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Decca Classics is thrilled to announce a new Baroque album from violinist Nicola Benedetti. This is the first album she has released on a period set-up including gut strings, and she is joined by a leading group of freelance baroque musicians, forming the Benedetti Baroque Orchestra – for the very first time. The album features a selection of concerti by Vivaldi plus Geminiani’s incredible arrangement of Corelli’s La Folia, one of the oldest western classical themes which has been arranged by many composers over time, particularly in the baroque era. Geminiani was one of the greatest violinists of the era and Corelli was one of his teachers whilst growing up in Italy. Later when he moved to London, Geminiani reworked a number of Corelli’s works for local audiences including this arrangement of La Folia.
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