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I've been living with Ehnes VC 1 on Chandos for awhile now, but I just don't like the sound: it's warm and easy on the ear, but the orchestra, which gets to play some of Prokofiev's most colorful and ethereal music ever, seems to appear from--and disappear back into--no-man's land throughout. There's no sense of dimension and spread; no atmosphere.
So I'm think I'm going to pass on Ehnes' 2nd VC from the same forces. (FWIW, during my lp days, I enjoyed Oistrakh's mono VC1, and the Ricci/Ansermet on London for both concertos, the latter a wonderful example of 3D sound in stereo.)
Is the Jansen exceptional? From an artistic POV, her interpretation sounds fine to me. I'm just hoping for a more persuasive recorded orchestral spread.
The release also includes Prokofiev's 1st Violin Sonata. The highlight for me is the half-lit, darkly-magical 3rd mov't andante. Some duos take a clarified, squeaky-clean approach to the piece which I don't like. Sound samples suggest that Jansen and partner capture the more "blurred" (sustain pedal) mood I prefer.
Follow Ups:
". . . the program is interestingly arranged and includes the Second Concerto (my favorite violin concerto), the First Sonata (with pianist Itamar Golan), and the Sonata for Two Violins (with Boris Brovtsyn). Janine is still on fire with these performances and her fellow musicians are true collaborators, rather than just being along for the ride. (I can't say enough good things about Golan, who was also Janine's pianist in her "Beau Soir" album - he negotiates the most difficult passages with extraordinary musicality, just as he did on that previous album.) My Spek spectrum analysis software shows the expected wide frequency range for 24/96, with no ultra high frequency noise, and the chamber works sound very fine indeed. As for the Concerto, I felt that it did not generate the front to back depth that I've heard on the best recordings - although the part for bass drum (a pretty large part BTW, albeit a part that also calls for both subtlety and an ear for balance) reproduces well."
I'd just reiterate that Golan plays the piano part in the Sonata wonderfully well (I agree with your comments about the Andante movement), and that Jurowski is a very fine collaborator in the Concerto performance. I just wish that the SQ in the Concerto were just a bit better.
Another recording you might want to consider is the BIS Gluzman/Jarvi/Estonian PO album of the two concertos and the solo sonata. SQ-wise, I think it's better than the Decca recording in the Concerto.
There's another Prokofiev set of Concertos with Matthew Trussler and the BBC Orchestra of Wales. I'm waiting for a few more reviews to come in.
Since I have your ear and you're a Jurowski fan, (as am I after listening to his Mahler 2nd), I'm thinking of downloading his Tchaikovsky 5th, a symphony to which I only listen any more for the 2nd mov't horn solo.
I thought about picking up Petrenko's 5th, since the whole set has gotten very good reviews, but the Liverpool horn soloist seems completely out to lunch. I didn't know it was possible to turn in such an abstract, cold reading.
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