Beethoven, Ludwig van - Beethoven & Schnittke: Violin Concertos - Gluzman, Vadim

After releasing acclaimed recordings of romantic violin concertos by Brahms, Bruch, and Tchaikovsky, Vadim Gluzman turns his attention to a work that set a new direction for the genre in the early 19th century: Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61. In this work, Beethoven rejected the idea of a virtuoso showpiece with largely irrelevant orchestral accompaniment. Instead, he presented a symphonic reinterpretation of the concerto principle, in which the soloist and orchestra become equal partners in a texture interwoven on many levels. Largely forgotten after its premiere in 1806, the work is now considered one of the greatest violin concertos ever written. However innovative Beethoven was in his Opus 61, he remained faithful to the tradition of allowing the soloist several cadenzas. Over the years, several composers and great violin virtuosos have proposed their own cadenzas for the concerto, with Alfred Schnittke being one of the most unexpected names. On this recording, Gluzman has chosen Schnittke's cadenzas as a link to the album's second work, the composer's Concerto No. 3 for violin and chamber orchestra. In Schnittke's view, the relationship between soloist and orchestra is quite different from that in Beethoven's score: "I feel that this relationship is never harmoniously balanced...