Patricia Kopatchinskaja: Beethoven

FLAC+CUE+LOG | booklet | 300 Mb | 62'05" | 2009 | Naive


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tracklist:

Violin Concerto Op. 61

Romances Op. 40 & Op. 50

Violin Concerto in C woo 5 (Fragment)

Patricia Kopatchinskaia - violin

Orchestre des Champs-Elyses

Philippe Herreweghe - conductor

Patricia Kopatchinskaja has made a career out of doing things differently. A violinist of stunning technical gifts, she shuns the virtuoso showpieces of Paganini and Ysaye, preferring recondite fare such as the works of Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian - although Kopatchinskaja's playing makes you wonder why it's not standard repertoire. Born in Moldova, Kopatchinskaja has inherited the free-wheeling style of the gipsy violinist (her playing barefoot isn't just a gimmick, it stops her footstomping from interrupting the music). Few soloists can convey the sheer fun of music making of Kopatchinskaja - few performers in any genre seem to have as much fun as she does on stage - and its impossible not to be transported by the violinist's pure, manic energy.

Limelight Magazine (Australia), January 2011

Patricia Kopatchinskaja's warmly recorded account of the Beethoven Violin Concerto must be one of the most stimulating and provocative that has ever been committed to disc. Studying the composer's autograph has inspired her to provide a radically different interpretation of the work to the one with which most people will be familiar. There are some very noticeable changes to both notation and articulation which take account of some of Beethoven's suggested alternatives for certain passages, especially in the first movement. Kopatchinskaja has also taken to heart anecdotal evidence regarding the delicate and extremely tender playing style of the work's original performer, Franz Clement. She opts therefore to interpret the solo part with a very light almost wispy sound, using a fluid almost operatic style in the recitative passages that follow the big orchestral tuttis. Superbly supported by Herreweghe and his expert period-instrument orchestra, she maintains a flowing tempo throughout each movement, yet is sufficiently flexible in her playing to accommodate rubato in the most expressive parts of the score.

Arguably the most controversial aspect of her performance, however, occurs in the cadenza where she presents a brilliant and dazzling transcription of the cadenza Beethoven composed for the piano arrangement of the concerto and resorts to overdubbing in places to accommodate the cascade of notes that were present in the original. Purists will no doubt regard this as a mere gimmick. Yet Kopatchinskaja brings it off brilliantly, and the duel that rages between the violin and solo timpani is startlingly effective.

Erik Levi, BBC Music-Magazine, December 2009