Kent Nagano/Rebekka Hartmann – Hartmann/Ravel/Sadikova

Kent Nagano conducts the Rachmaninoff International Orchestra, a pan-European ensemble founded by Mikhail Pletnev, in three works for violin and orchestra, with soloist Rebekka Hartmann.

Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s Funeral Concerto is one of the most widely performed 20th-century works for violin and orchestra worldwide. This expressionist concerto goes through a period of contemplation before turning into a macabre dance and a shadowy hymn at the very end. It has also been recorded with mastery by Isabelle Faust and Thomas Zehetmair, to name just two. Rebekka Hartmann manages to tame the fiery impulses of this powerful piece, with its complex melodic convolutions and muscular, driving rhythms. Hartmann’s athletic performance is supported by Kent Nagano’s ideally dark and shadowy orchestra. Unforgettable music that benefits from a convincing performance here.

Ravel’s Tzigane is played with character, Hartmann letting his bow dance to infuse it with the necessary nomadic soul, accompanied by an alert orchestra, alternately lascivious and teasing. The last piece is an interesting composition by Aziza Sadikova, Stradivari, an obvious tribute to the famous luthier and, by extension, to the instruments he crafted. The work was commissioned by Rebekka Hartmann from the Berlin-based Uzbek composer specifically for this recording with Kent Nagano. Stradivari lasts about 18 minutes and its score is modern and expressionistic, demanding for the soloist, with some echoes of baroque and classical-style music, the famous stradivari violins or cellos having been used since that time. Hartmann seems to be doing very well, and Nagano is in his element here, with a lush score that combines the ultra-fine details of a highly precise orchestration with the muscularity of powerful and suggestive swells. The finale has something of spectral music fused with the grand Hollywood style of Don Davis in his orchestral score for The Matrix.

Exciting scores in carefully crafted and passionate interpretations.