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| Review by Windsurfer October 1, 2006 (13 of 13 found this review helpful)
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Even if you have impossibly high expectations for Fischer and PentaTone, I predict those expectations will be more than met with this disc!
What glorious playing! Here we have (again from these artists - and let's include the members of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra here) period informed but not period governed performances of exceptional quality. All concerned are playing here with one mind with beautiful integration - the soloist plays from within the orchestra, as if in a string quartet, rather than apart from it. These people are all listening to one another!
Fischer's kalidoscopic tonal quality brings to mind the most brilliant jewel-like sounds set upon and arising from a golden luminosity which serves as its foundation. Like the period style performers, Fischer's playing is imbued with a fine sense of lightness and energy. Unlike period performers, Julia never makes a whining sour note.
A quote from Castor's very fine review of Numbers 3&4 is apropo to this disc as well:
"These performances do not completely eschew period style even if they lean toward the romantic side of the spectrum, but I would be surprised if those who generally prefer period sounds did not find Julia Fischer’s alert and imaginative playing more than acceptable."
While I was, for some reason, particularly struck by the performance of concerto # 2, each performance is the best of any I have ever heard! Again, the sound here ranks among the best PentaTones. We are provided an airy, tightly focused recording with ample and well defined bass. The feeling is of being present in Haarlem's Mennonite Church as the music is being played. It is simply superb!
Even if you think this music should be the exclusive domain of period performers, you owe it to yourself to acquire this one. I predict you will want to listen to it again and again. If your previous inclinations toward this music are represented by such as Anne Sophie Mutter or Itzhak Perlman, you really, really need to give this a listen!
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| Review by Armchair Musician April 15, 2007 (6 of 7 found this review helpful)
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| This is really superb. I haven't bought a disc in ages which has given me this much pleasure. The ensemble is flawless and the performance glows with a joyous spontaneity. Fischer's phrasing and sense of line are addictive and her tone is beautiful throughout. I played this to a friend who described the listening sensation as being like 'sunshine on the skin'. Buy it!
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| Review by threerandot April 25, 2008 (4 of 4 found this review helpful)
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Julia Fischer proves she is an amazing Mozartean soloist in this recording of Mozart's Violin Concertos 1, 2 & 5, with Yakov Kreizberg conducting the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra.
This is the second disc Julia Fischer has made with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra under Yakov Kreizberg playing the Mozart Violin Concertos.
The three concertos in this collection feature Julia's singing and soaring violin and that she has a natural understanding of these works. Her style is ideally suited to this music, filled with lyricism, charm and elegance. Julia never breaks a sweat in the faster outer movements and she is lyrical and tender in the slower ones.
The first two concertos were written before the fifth and are more sunny and genial in character, while Concerto No.5 is more mature and complex in character. All three of these concertos are performed with charm and elegance and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra are first rate, with beautifully recorded strings, while the winds and horns are very colorful, particularly in the most pastoral moments of these works.
The acoustic in this recording is airy and spacious, if perhaps a bit thin. The sound is very detailed, with Julia's violin well placed in the center channel, with the orchestra well balanced over the right and left channels and the surrounds enhancing the recording, capturing reverberant sounds of the Mennonite Church.
Julia's violin is radiant, filled with lyrical and sunny playing. This is an impressive disc and if you add the companion disc featuring the remaining Voilin Concertos, this is an engaging and enjoyable disc of Mozart. Highly Recommended.
(This review refers to the Multichannel portion of this disc.)
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Sonics: 
