Benjamin Britten - Violin Concerto; Double Concerto (Baiba Skride)

Information

Composer: Benjamin Britten

• Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 15
• Double Concerto for Violin, Viola & Orchestra in B Minor

Baiba Skride, violin

Ivan Vukčević, viola

ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra

Marin Alsop, conductor

Date: 2024

Label: Orfeo

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Review

This vividly recorded account of Britten’s 1939 Violin Concerto is uniquely paired with the Double Concerto for violin and viola of 1932, a work left in short score and realised in 1997 by Colin Matthews. The juxtaposition is fascinating: not only do we feel Britten’s precipitate journey from precocious student to full compositional maturity in a mere seven years, but there are even some thematic pre-echoes here that become suddenly obvious. One change during this transition is Britten’s immersion in working for the GPO Film Unit, thus giving his later music a heightened visual dimension, which this cinematic new recording brings out dramatically.

Baiba Skride is on top of everything the score throws at her and the synergy of the Latvian soloist with an American conductor in Vienna works wonders: the music spans Britten’s momentous jump from England to America in 1939 but also encompasses his encounter with Berg’s Violin Concerto at its premiere in Barcelona in 1936. There are Spanish colours here and a painful awareness of international political unrest, which troubled the pacifist’s conscience while also forming the backdrop to his unfolding sexual awareness and emotional commitment.

After decades of inexplicable neglect, recordings and performances now happily proliferate to such a degree that the work is firmly part of the general repertoire. But any supposed familiarity shouldn’t blunt the visceral impact of much in Britten’s writing. This is where Skride has an edge even over her nearest recent rivals: James Ehnes in Bournemouth and Vilde Frang in Frankfurt. She manages to convey the narrative arc of each movement with unrivalled involvement and intensity, and also unleashes the inner spirit of a carefully constructed yet spontaneous-sounding masterpiece. An indispensable new Britten album.

— Geraint Lewis

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Benjamin Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was a leading British composer, pianist and conductor. Trained at the Royal College of Music, he gained early acclaim with Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge and achieved international prominence with the opera Peter Grimes (1945). His major stage works include Billy Budd, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice, alongside innovative church parables such as Curlew River. Co-founder of the Aldeburgh Festival, he also composed celebrated song cycles, choral works including the War Requiem, and notable orchestral and chamber music.

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Baiba Skride (born 19 February 1981) is a Latvian violinist. Born in Riga, she studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock with Petru Munteanu. In 2001, she won the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Skride has since performed with leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra, collaborating with renowned conductors including Andris Nelsons and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. A passionate chamber musician, she founded the Skride Quartet and regularly performs with her sisters, pianist Lauma Skride and violist Linda Skride.

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