María Dueñas began studying violin at the Ángel Barrios Conservatory in Granada. She won a scholarship at age 11 to study in Dresden, and soon after moved to Vienna to study with Boris Kuschnir and attend the University of Music and Dramatic Art in Vienna and the University of Graz. She has won several international violin competitions in the last few years, including first prize in the Yehudi Menuhin Competition. Last year Deutsche Grammophon signed her to an exclusive contract, and this live recording, with the Wiener Symphoniker and Manfred Honeck, is her debut album.
This is a thoughtful and impressive program: Dueñas plays her own cadenzas for each movement of the concerto, followed by five pieces for violin and orchestra by Kreisler, Saint-Saëns, Spohr, Wieniawski and Ysaÿe. The second CD includes cadenzas written for the first movement of Beethoven’s concerto by those same five composers – if only Deutsche Grammophon had split the cadenzas from the concerto, listeners (especially digital) could have place their favorite one within the Concerto. Unfortunately, the concerto is presented as 3 complete tracks.
The opening movement’s introduction establishes a gentle and warm interpretative principle, evoking a gentle serenity through warm rounded orchestral colors. Honeck, who has embraced some historically informed practices in slowly evolving Beethoven symphony series in Pittsburgh, here seems content to embrace a sound that it more overtly Romantic. The storminess heard in accounts led by Gardiner and Herreweghe is minimized but proves an ideal foil to Dueñas’ interpretation. Few readings can match this level of grace and full-throated lyricism, wedded to a notable range of color and spot-on intonation. I often find less tempestuous readings less engaging, but with Honeck’s detailed accompaniment and Dueñas’ soulful introspection, I was always engaged. Her cadenza is wonderful, its double and triple stops dispatched with disarming ease.
The second movement is again gorgeously sung, phrases shaped with a convincing improvisatory freedom. The opening lacks the intimate vulnerability heard in Veronika Eberle’s recent recording (LSO/Rattle/LSO Live, reviewed here) and the stunningly intense pianissimos Christian Tetzlaff produces in his second recording of the work (DSO Berlin/Ticciati/Ondine, reviewed here).
Related Classical Music Reviews
- Review: Beethoven – Violin Concerto – Veronika Eberle, LSO, Sir Simon Rattle
- Review: Beethoven And Sibelius Violin Concertos – Christian Tetzlaff
- Review: Brahms – Symphony No. 4 – Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck
Unfortunately, DG’s engineers place us awfully close to the performers, as if we were sitting in the first few rows. The overall sound is clear but clinical, lacking the warmth we know this room has from Decca’s classic recordings, or the more recent Bruckner recordings on Sony. Nevertheless, Dueñas’ playing is richly detailed, as is Honeck’s accompaniment.
The final movement moves at a more leisurely pace than readings by Janine Jansen and Viktoria Mullova, but Dueñas’ playing has a crystalline purity and tenderness that engages throughout, and Honeck’s orchestra provides a particularly characterful accompaniment. The cadenza is long, but never outstays its welcome, a virtuosic display of color, control and creativity that fits well within the context of the entire interpretation. These performers see the concerto as lyrical and gentle, and while that is not necessarily how I perceive the work, this is a unified and interesting performance that rewards repeated listening.
The shorter pieces are lovely additions: Dueñas’ uncovers a chaste beauty in the relatively unknown ‘Adagio’ from Spohr’s Symphonie concertante No. 1 for violin, harp, and orchestra in G major. The resigned sadness of Ysaÿe’s “Berceuse” is deeply touching, and the Saint-Saëns “Havanaise,” has an authoritative fluency, its middle section finally giving us an opportunity to hear Dueñas let loose, and she does not disappoint.
The concerto and five pieces were recorded at Vienna’s Goldener Saal der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in January of this year (2023), while the five cadenzas were recorded last year in Berlin. The brief liner notes spend too little time on the music itself. I eagerly look forward to further releases from this artist – warmly recommended.
Beethoven – Violin Concerto
works by Spohr, Ysaÿe, Saint-Saëns
María Dueñas – Violin
Wiener Symphoniker
Manfred Honeck – Conductor
Deutsche Grammophon, CD 4863512
Recommended Comparisons
Schneiderhan | Eberle | Perlman | Bell
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