First the good news: Nicola Benedetti makes a strikingly sexy impression on the disc cover, and she also plays the violin quite well. Her tone is a touch small, perhaps, but her intonation is sound, and she offers an elegant, rhapsodic account of Szymanowski’s First Violin Concerto, a splendid work that deserves to be better known. However, you would think that the poor dear made this disc as if it were her last. What is all of that other stuff doing here? I mean, she’s fine in the shorter works, as any artist on this label had better be. (Okay, I miss David Oistrakh and Charles Munch in the Chausson, but why quibble? Benedetti plays it very well.) But I have no idea why the Brahms transcription was included. The Massenet presumably appeals to a certain kind of listener who would run away screaming from the Szymanowski, and the John Tavener sounds unfortunately like John Tavener–that is, worthless dreck. Most curiously, there is a “music minus one” track of the Massenet included, as if DG is doing us a favor by removing the contribution of the feature artist from what presumably is the most popular “draw” on the disc. Does this make sense? Never mind. Daniel Harding and the LSO accompany well, and the sound is very good. I can’t say I agree with the “throw it all against the wall and hope something sticks” approach, but there’s no denying Benedetti’s basic talent. [4/19/2006]
