David: Violin Concertos 4 & 5: Andante and Scherzo Capriccioso

Hagai Shaham (violin), BBC Scottish SO/Martyn Brabbins Hyperion CDA 67804 ***

The influence of Mendelssohn is reflected also in the ninth instalment of Hyperion's Romantic Violin Concerto series. Ferdinand David (1810-73) is best remembered as the violinist who premiered Mendelssohn's E minor Violin Concerto. But he also published a School of Violin Playing, which resurrected music from the 17th and 18th centuries, and left a corpus of around 40 original works. His most often-played piece these days is a pioneering Concertino for trombone and orchestra. The last two of David's five violin concertos show a composer who knows his instrument – and the ebb and flow of Mendelssohn – inside-out. The Fifth Concerto is more meaty than the Fourth, but better still, more spirited and more individual, is his early Andanteand Scherzo Capriccioso, beautifully caught in the playing of Hagai Shaham. See url.ie/4qdb