Isabelle Faust captures the pathos of Britten’s Violin Concerto — album review

At the time of his death Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto was a relative rarity, whether in concerts or recordings. How things have changed: there have already been more than 20 new recordings this century and still they come.

It is easy to see why. With only a dozen or so truly popular concertos, violinists are invariably on the lookout to widen their repertoire and Britten’s hauntingly poignant concerto fits the bill. Here is the spirit of the 1930s, poised anxiously on the threshold of an uncertain future.

This latest recording by Isabelle Faust was taken live from a concert in October 2021 with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, conducted by Jakub Hrůša. Faust gives herself breathing space and, while there is no lack of aggressive attack when required, the lyrical passages sing with a heart-rending pathos. Hrůša and the Munich players support her admirably. Is there a more captivating end to any concerto than Britten’s last 10 minutes, where the music hangs in the air, gazing out nervously. Is it in hope or despair?

Rather than a companion concerto, Faust fills the album with three of Britten’s small chamber works, joined by Boris Faust on viola and Alexander Melnikov on piano. The Suite for Violin and Piano, Op 6, and Reveille concert study, both from the late 1930s, match the bittersweet mood of the concerto. The Two Pieces for violin, viola and piano, dating from 1929 and getting their first recording here, go back to a younger Britten when he had aspirations of being a modernist — a minor, but interesting, discovery.

★★★★☆

‘Britten: Violin Concerto, Chamber Works’ is released by Harmonia Mundi