TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto, Etc

✩ Recommendation

“The sound of Ehnes's violin is especially full and expressive; it's not the kind of tone Tchaikovsky would have recognised but it sound gorgeous and allows him to rise to the concerto's lyrical high spots with considerable intensity. Even his muted tone in the Canzonetta is exceptionally warm and resonant. He clearly enjoys demonstrating his ability as a virtuoso, making this one of the most exciting accounts of the finale I can remember.” --Gramophone Magazine, March 2012

“Ehnes and Ashkenazy deliver a particularly beautiful account of the slow movement...Ehnes demonstrates his characteristically phenomenal technical assurance while bringing out all the fire in the music too...their disc can be recommended warmly not only for the excellent if occasionally strait-laced Concerto but - above all - for the other pieces, which have seldom been recorded with such poise and poetry.” --International Record Review, February 2012

“Ehnes is not a violinist to use bravura as an end in itself...His dexterity is a marvel of lightness and precision in the finale, but it is consistently aimed towards a musical goal, the range of tone beautifully judged and, as in the first movement, the structure and direction kept in clear view. This is a consummate performance...All in all, the disc makes a fine start to 2012.” --The Telegraph, 5th January 2012

“Ehnes’s virtuosity impresses on account of its virtue. He makes a ravishing sound and meets every technical challenge thrown at him with utterly reliable intonation, tonal consistency and beautifully controlled articulation. What distinguishes him, however, is an almost self-effacing intelligence.” --Sunday Times, 8th January 2012