Mikhail Pochekin (violin); Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra/Daniel Raiskin
Hänssler Classic HC23057 50:03 mins
Despite the violin being Antonín Dvořák’s first instrument, his complete works for violin and orchestra amount to no more than three scores all written in the 1870s, before he became an international celebrity. But they are all worth treasuring.
The earliest is the Romance in F minor dating from 1873, two years after Dvořák gave up his orchestra post at Prague’s Provisional Theatre to concentrate on composition. The title suggests the inspiration of Beethoven’s two Romances for violin and orchestra, but the theme is very much Dvořák’s, recycled from his own String Quartet in F minor. He was never one to lose sight of a good idea and the piece (though perhaps slightly over-extended) certainly showcases Mikhail Pochekin’s sweet tone.
Though its intended dedicatee, Joseph Joachim, was apparently sniffy about the Violin Concerto in A minor and some of its departures from formal convention, it is a richly rewarding work that (like the slightly earlier Piano Concerto) doesn’t really deserve to have been eclipsed by the popular Cello Concerto. Blending furiant and dumka, the Finale has been criticised for being less of a concerto movement than another Slavonic Dance, but its natural exhilaration comes across here thanks to the virtuosity of the soloist; indeed, the Russian conductor Daniel Raiskin and the Slovak Philharmonic all feel this music instinctively.
There’s of course no disguising the dance impulse of the Mazurka in E minor: Dvořák also borrowed this Polish form in his piano music, and his affection for it shows again in this performance.