Prokofiev, Walton & Vaughan Williams: Works for Violin and Orchestra

Isabelle van Keulen once again proves her skill and musical insight both as a violinist and as a violist on one of Challenge Classics highlights of 2018. Recorded live, van Keulen has paired two great Concertos from the roaring 20s: Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.1 and Walton’s Viola Concerto.

Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.1, whose premiere was in 1923 (while the composer was still living in France, a few years before his return to Soviet Union) served as a much-admired model to Walton’s Viola Concerto, whose first performance was played by Paul Hindemith in 1929. The similarities between the two works go beyond the three-movements structure slow-quick-slow and concern themes, accompaniments and the rondo form of the virtuoso central Scherzo.

The idea of such unusual coupling came to one of the few great living violinists who can really play the viola with equal skill: Isabelle van Keulen. This glorious disc is crowned by the orchestrated version of Vaughan Williams’ masterpiece The Lark Ascending. One of German radio best orchestras, the NDR Radiophilharmonie, is conducted by Andrew Manze (Prokofiev), Keri-Lynn Wilson (Walton) and Andrew Litton (Vaughan Williams).

Full marks for this well-conceived programme, which brings together two works closely related but rarely coupled…van Keulen plays [the Prokofiev] with a shiny, rather glassy (rather than glossy) tone…No reservations are needed for the Walton, whose introverted yet deep running emotion well suits van Keulen’s way with the husky-toned viola she plays. Conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson finds an ideal balance of restraint and (in the scherzo) extroversion. — BBC Music Magazine, January 2019, 4 out of 5 stars