Prokofiev / Stravinsky - Violin Concertos - Kopatchinskaja, Patricia (violin)
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, VIOLIN
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski, CONDUCTOR
Patricia Kopatchinskaja's fifth recording on naïve is dedicated to the violin concertos of two Russian great composers of the 20th century: Stravinsky and Prokofiev. Recorded with leading orchestra and conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra, the disc offers intense, exhilarating, ardent performances, as usually with Patricia Kopatchinskaja.
She is recognized as "bringing a particularly personal intensity to everything she touches" (BBC). Her previous recording, featuring Bartok, Eötvös and Ligeti concertos and conducted by Peter Eötvös himself, will be one of the winners of the Gramophone Awards (UK) on September 17th and the Echo Klassik Awards(Germany) on October 6th. Moreover, the release of the Prokofiev- Stravinsky recording is supported by a large number of live performances in Europe - see next page.
The two violin concertos coupled on this recording display as many affinities as they do divergences. Both stem from creators in conflict with their native Russia - one choosing to return there, the other settling permanently in exile; both belong to the aesthetic of the 'return to order' observed from 1920 onwards and characterised by the reappropriation of models from the past. If Prokofiev preserves the traditional bases of the concerto, he combines them with a search for a new lyricism. As for Stravinsky, he reworks tried and trusted models while offering a deliberately neutral, distanced expressivity.