Saint-Georges: Violin Concertos, Vol. 2 (2004)

Three years have separated this second Naxos volume of Violin Concertos by French composer Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de Saint-Georges from the first. In the initial venture the violin part was essayed by the redoubtable Takako Nishizaki, but in this instance Naxos has decided to share the wealth by assigning three of Saint-Georges' concertos to a relative newcomer, Chinese violinist Qian Zhou. Zhou does a magnificent job interpreting these three works, which were written at an extreme level of difficulty, requiring the same ... Read More

Three years have separated this second Naxos volume of Violin Concertos by French composer Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de Saint-Georges from the first. In the initial venture the violin part was essayed by the redoubtable Takako Nishizaki, but in this instance Naxos has decided to share the wealth by assigning three of Saint-Georges' concertos to a relative newcomer, Chinese violinist Qian Zhou. Zhou does a magnificent job interpreting these three works, which were written at an extreme level of difficulty, requiring the same kind of tender loving care and technical aptitude that is called for in the Violin Concertos of Mozart. The Toronto Camerata under Kevin Mallon both support and provide a sense of congenial confluence with Zhou without getting in her way. These performances are prepared from newly minted Artaria Editions that represent the state of the art of scholarship in the area of Saint-Georges, and the liner notes are written by Artaria's editor, Allan Badley.Of these three concertos two have... Read Less