Adès: Violin Concerto; Sibelius: Violin Concerto; 3 Humoresques

Sibelius Adès Violin Concertos
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Artist: Augustin Hadelich, Hannu Lintu, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Adès, Jean Sibelius
Genre: Classical
Label: Avie

Pairing Thomas Adès's 2005 Violin Concerto (Concentric Paths) with the Sibelius Violin Concerto (which reached its final form exactly 100 years earlier) is an adventurous idea. And it pays off handsomely. The first recording of the Adès, made by Anthony Marwood with the composer conducting, is more delicate, Hadelich's more determined, more defined. But the often hovering character of the music can bear both approaches. There's grit aplenty, too, in Hadelich's unsweetened, unsentimentalised approach to the Sibelius, an approach in which he is fully and faithfully supported by the Liverpool players under Hannu Lintu. For contrast, there are three of Sibelius's Humoresques thrown in at the end. url.ie/e8oo

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor