COMPOSERS: Vieuxtemps/Ravel/Saint-Sa‘ns
LABELS: EMI
WORKS: Violin Concertos No. 4; Violin Concerto No. 5; Tzigane; Havanaise
PERFORMER: Itzhak Perlman (violin) Orchestre de Paris/Daniel Barenboim, Jean Martinon
CATALOGUE NO: CDM 5 66058 2 ADD 1974/78
Perlman lavishes his customary care on these works and almost persuades us to add the name of Vieuxtemps to that supposedly elusive list of great Belgians. He knows better than most that only wholehearted and unembarrassed playing can disguise the relative thinness of some of the material. One listens in amazement to the technical wizardry he applies to the Scherzo of the D minor concerto.
Plenty of gypsy atmosphere in the Ravel and Cuban heat-haze in the Saint-Saëns complete a generous and satisfying disc. David Wilkins