Teodor Currentzis and his MusicAeterna are a welcome astringent in the modern recording world, giving us daring period takes on Così fan Tutte and Le nozze di Figaro and making Rameau’s wonderfully wacky music more attractively wayward than we thought possible. But this Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Op 35 is just too wild, too crazy. Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s exaggerated Gypsy playing feels too self-indulgent to be sincere; it’s often overpowering, and sometimes almost inaudible. Stravinsky’s Les Noces, on the other hand, is gritty and intelligent and greatly enhanced by having an all-Russian cast of singers, chorus and players.
