Classical Music: Brahms & Busoni

Brahms & Busoni

Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto, Op. 77; Ferruccio Busoni Violin Concerto, Op. 35a

Francesca Dego violin

BBC Symphony Orchestra Dalia Stasevska
Stephen Bryant leader

Chandos CHSA 5333

https://www.chandos.net/

It is refreshing that when asked to name their favourite composer, a performer doesn’t say, ‘whoever I’m playing right now’. That's an overused crass technique to avoid answering. Francesca Dego authentically says that if she gave that answer, it would not be true: “It is really Brahms! I have played all of his chamber music …”

Dego also writes that "To be able to record Brahms’s Violin Concerto is a dream and a milestone for every violinist, and I feel that with 'my' Brahms, I do not want to compete with the many gorgeous versions out there but instead to declare my own love and history with my favourite violin concerto.”

With that sentiment, what can one expect from this recording with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Dalia Stasevska? Well, two wonderful compositions, one of which is a staple concerto and the other an unfamiliar but glorious work, perspicaciously interpreted. 

In both concertos, Dego shows off her agility and virtuosity as she delivers crisp lyricism and meritorious interpretations.

In just over 20 minutes, Busoni creates a virtuosic violin concerto inspired by both Brahms and Beethoven, and like both, it is in the key of D major. Premièred in Berlin in 1897 by the Dutch violinist Henri Petri. The lovely evocative opening and beautiful slow movement that intimates Bruch prove that it is a work that should be heard more often. The BBCSO’s woodwind is marvellous, and Stasevska moulds the concerto into a colourful and magnificent performance, capturing the romanticism. The Allegro impetuoso finale has a boldness and brilliance that highlight Busoni’s composition skills and Dego’s superb technique.

A cornerstone of the repertoire, Brahms’s Concerto dates from 1878, a year after the Second Symphony, and was composed for (and dedicated to) the virtuoso Joseph Joachim.

It does not need an introduction; it has all the composer’s trademark inventiveness, and Dego gives a proficient reading inspired by Sir Roger Norrington and Stasevska. All the lyricality is there, and the playing has poise and elegance from all musicians. At times, there is a delicacy to the playing, and the oboe solo in the second movement is expressively phrased.

In his notes, Martin Ennis writes that Brahms and Busoni are rarely mentioned in one breath, but he explains the context for why these two wonderful concertos are performed together on this disc.