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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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