MENDELSSOHN • SCHUMANN

Violin Concertos

Carolin Widmann (violin); Chamber Orchestra of Europe

ECM 481 2635 59:26 mins

We know from his diary that Schumann completed his Violin Concerto on 1 October 1853. The following year he heard it played through by its dedicatee, Joseph Joachim, who dismissed the piece – Schumann’s last orchestral score

– as ‘morbid brooding’, and never performed it in public. So much did he regard it as an embarrassment that he presented the autograph score to the Prussian State Library only on condition that it was not to be published until 100 years after Schumann’s death. Brahms

Certainly, the Concerto finds Schumann staring into the abyss, but its slow movement, in particular, has an otherworldly atmosphere that is profoundly affecting. Carolin Widmann and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe give a deeply-felt account of it, and are no less expressive in the beautiful second subject of the opening movement. Only the finale remains problematic, especially if taken at the slow tempo indicated by Schumann. Widmann keeps it as light as possible, but it’s hard to prevent the polonaise rhythm from lumbering.

The Mendelssohn Concerto has had a much less chequered history, and was recognised right from its first performance in 1845 as one of the pinnacles of the repertoire. Widmann plays it with warmth and admirable fluency, but perhaps the presence of a conductor would have allowed her to inject a bit more passion into the music: it’s all just a touch impersonal, and the elfin finale, although admirably clear, is a little on the safe side.