Violin concerto

"John Adams's radiant Violin Concerto is at once playful and refined, complex and accessible ... The resultant work is expansively beautiful and this fine recording from Leila Josefowicz and the St Louis Symphony Orchestra captures both the energy and lyricism of Adams's dazzling score ... acutely responsive to the music's line, pacing and sense of play ... As Josefowicz has commented ... "Basically, it's supposed to make you groove". This recording accomplishes just that".

"Leila Josefowicz is a great champion of the music of John Adams, and perhaps there is an element of her as his muse ... Here ... we have the 1993 violin concerto ... Josefowicz is capable of the sweetest, most poignant tone; subtle dissonances unsettle the listener. Adams ensures the sense of depth and space a chaconne implies, peppered with background references to minimalism. The finale, Tocarre, finds the immediacy of the recording drawing the listener in as much as the virtuosity on display".

"Det er ved nærmere gennemhøring helt berettiget, at det er John Adams koncert, der er sat øverst på coveret: det er det eneste decideret vægtige koncertsalsværk blandt de fire ... I denne farverige koncert spiller violinisten konstant i de 33 minutter, med orkesterakkompanementet som en selvstændig, konstant boblende verden under solisten. Chloë Hanslip spiller nobelt og teknisk perfekt, meget passende til Coriglianos aristokratisk-klassiske stil, men man savner gevaldigt frækhed i Enescus virtuosnummer og mere bid og klang i Adams' rytmiske musik".

"In the abscence of Leila Josefowicz's superb acccount on the short-lived Late Junction label, Hanslip's new version seems to me undoubtedly the one to acquire".