Nicola Benedetti
Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto & Fiddle Dance Suite
Decca, out now
As a young man, Wynton Marsalis was hailed as the natural successor to Louis Armstrong, such was his command of the trumpet, and his wider authority as a musician.
Armstrong has gone down in history as the greatest-ever exponent of the trumpet, even though he never got into the classics. Marsalis, like the celebrated jazz clarinettist Benny Goodman, has regularly played classical pieces.
And now he turns up as the composer of a lengthy (almost 45 minutes) Violin Concerto and a substantial Fiddle Dance Suite for solo violin (24 minutes).
The concerto was commissioned by Nicola Benedetti, who plays this very difficult stuff with the Philadelphia Orchestra in front of an enthusiastic Philadelphia audience
The concerto was commissioned by Nicola Benedetti, who, with great virtuosity and commitment, plays this very difficult stuff with the Philadelphia Orchestra in front of an enthusiastic Philadelphia audience.
It is a kaleidoscope of Americana, from a rather beautiful opening spiritual-like tune, through various marching bands reminiscent of Charles Ives, to a spirited (as against spiritual) hoe-down ending.
It’s fascinating, though I do wonder how many times people will want to listen to it once its original impact has worn off. Perhaps the Fiddle Dance Suite may be more often performed.
People who like unaccompanied solo violin music tend to be very committed, and I can well see this one getting a look-in as an alternative to, say, Bach’s solo violin music.
Once again, Benedetti is to be congratulated for her adventurous spirit and sterling musicianship. Well worth sampling.
BOX SET OF THE WEEK
Sir Andrew Davis The British Line: A Celebration Of British Music
Warner Classics, out now
Rating: 
Sir Andrew Davis was 75 earlier this year, and this box is a belated celebration, offering some outstanding recordings of the finest music from the British musical renaissance at a price that’s as cheap as chips – £36 for almost 20 hours of music on 16 CDs, all captured in excellent mid-Nineties recordings.
Davis is more than just a stalwart fighter for our national music. He has held top appointments all over the world, including his continued music directorship of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
He also still records extensively, these days notably for Chandos.
These recordings were made with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, which plays exceedingly well. They include a bonus CD of the complete Last Night Of The Proms 1994
But these recordings were made with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, which plays exceedingly well. They include a bonus CD of the Last Night Of The Proms 1994, complete with all the usual fun, and Bryn Terfel in Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast.
Of more significance perhaps is a complete Vaughan Williams symphony cycle, which also finds room for most of VW’s orchestral favourites: a delightful performance of the Tallis Fantasia and The Lark Ascending, radiantly played by Tasmin Little.
Five Elgar CDs offer the two symphonies plus most of his orchestral music, and his underrated cantata The Music Makers. The much lamented Penguin Guide called this coupling of the Enigma Variations and Cockaigne Overture ‘superb’, while the pairing of Falstaff and Froissart was described as ‘delightfully presented, with much fine wind and string playing’.
On the album devoted to Tippett’s most accessible orchestral music – the Double Concerto and the Corelli Fantasia – the Guide asserts: ‘If you only buy one Tippett CD, this is the one to have.’
The Delius collection is a particular favourite of mine, with music-making of real freshness.
Stir in a top-class Holst coupling of The Planets and a rarity, Egdon Heath (a tribute to Thomas Hardy), plus a Britten CD hailed as ‘an outstanding bargain’, and you have a box that offers a lifetime of listening pleasure.