Leila Josefowicz’s astringent, almost viola-like tone at the start of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 sets the stage for what will be a compellingly sharp-edged reading. Josefowicz brilliantly melds her highly refined instincts with a rough-hewn delivery that unerringly projects the music’s barely leashed rebelliousness. You can hear this most in the first movement’s caustic middle section, and in the scherzo, with its scrappy, gutsy trio, where Josefowicz sounds for all the world like a mesmerizing gypsy fiddler. The finale reveals her beautiful grazioso technique as she lulls us dreamily to the work’s ethereal close. The violinist tames the tart in her tone with a dab of sweet cream for the more romantic Concerto No. 2, especially the lazily lyrical slow movement. But the bite soon returns for the clod-hopping finale, done here with a real rustic swagger, aided by Dutoit’s burly accompaniment with a pungent-sounding Montréal Symphony.
Between these two Prokofiev classics comes Tchaikovsky’s Sérénade mélancolique, a beautiful and somewhat somber work for violin and orchestra that Josefowicz graces with an almost aching tenderness. This is one concerto disc that’s a pleasure from first note to last, and I’m happy to report that Philips finally has stopped recording this violinist like a rock star, placing her in a realistic-sounding perspective with the orchestra. [1/4/2002]
