Gil Shaham’s survey of the violin concertos of the 1930s arrives at two works that see their composers at their most lyrical. Prokofiev’s initial idea for the work that became his Violin Concerto No 2 was for a sonata for violin and orchestra, implying a greater sense of dialogue and balance than the standard concerto. This is something that Shaham and Eric Jacobsen’s Brooklyn-based ensemble the Knights live up to here, even if one sometimes wishes the solo woodwind were further forward in the balance. Shaham sustains long phrases with plenty of substance to the sound, and brings a poised, well-articulated lightness to the faster passages. Bartók’s Concerto No 2 finds him drawing on an even greater palette of colour and infusing the finale with the right amount of edginess. For the Bartók, he is teamed with Stéphane Denève and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, who bring a more expansive sound to this more expansive score.
