James Ehnes - Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto, Valse-Scherzo, Serenade Melancolique, Souvenir (2012)

Among the hottest violinists in the world in the early 2010s, Manitoban James Ehnes delivered critically acclaimed versions of major repertory items. Here he takes on one of the biggest of all, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35. The marquee attraction here is the teaming of Ehnes with Vladimir Ashkenazy, here in his ongoing conducting role with the Sydney Symphony. The collaboration between the veteran Russian and the upstart Canadian is sharp and Ashkenazy's return to the piano on the Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op. 42, makes a lovely encore. In the main event, they try to squeeze the sentiment out of the Violin Concerto and largely succeed. Ehnes is unerringly precise in the most treacherous passages, and the two forge a reading that ties the concerto more closely to Tchaikovsky's symphonies than to the virtuoso concerto tradition. Ashkenazy backs up Ehnes with very crisp sounds from the orchestra, lightening up effectively in the smaller Sérénade mélancolique that rounds out the program. Everything here is exactly as it's intended to be, and the individual listener's reaction may depend on overall orientation toward this rather Anglophone and not Russophone (despite the conductor) Tchaikovsky.