Album: Brahms/Joachim

Violin Concertos – Tetzlaff/Dausgaard/Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Virgin Classics

We are well supplied with fine violinists but there is something special about Christian Tetzlaff. Here he brings his crisp tone, extravagant phrasing and distinctive intelligence to a pairing of Brahms' Violin Concerto and one written by its dedicatee, violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim. Sensitively supported by the Danish NSO, Tetzlaff underlines the peppery melancholy of Joachim's melodies, dancing through a white-hot finale. Sweet solos from the flute and oboe combine to make an intoxicating and unusual cadenza in a work otherwise more interesting to violinists than other listeners. The Brahms is excellent.

Download this: Tetzlaff's searing performance of the Brahms 'Adagio'