Itzhak Perlman - Elgar – Violin Concerto, Chausson (1987)

Perlman's Elgar has always caused consternation among English critics, largely because it's so much better played from a purely technical point of view than any performance by an English violinist. With its relatively swift tempos, the performance is sometimes judged to be lacking in repose and "inwardness," whatever that is. All of this is complete nonsense. Perlman's playing of this extremely long and difficult concerto places it squarely in the grand Romantic tradition, which is precisely where it belongs. He plays the pants off the piece, and in Daniel Barenboim he has an excellent Elgar conductor leading an orchestra (the Chicago Symphony) of almost peerless quality. An essential Perlman disc. -- David Hurwitz