The first thing I thought when I saw this disc was “not another Brahms violin concerto!” It is after all a rather saturated market, with so many recordings of the great violin concertos by Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Brahms and their ilk. I think it is easy to get rather jaded by the commerce-driven record industry, who can churn out recordings of established artists playing well-known masterpieces, seeing it as a risk free way of making money in today’s difficult record industry.

With this in mind it took me a while to get round to listening to this ‘war horse’ of a concerto. The main attraction for me was the soloist, Leonidas Kavakos, having been interested in his career since hearing his rendition of the Sibelius violin concerto on BIS. Right from his first entry my attention was held, and what followed was playing of miraculous technique and tone. Kavakos seems to bring so much insight to this work. His playing has an individual character and an acknowledgement of the gypsy idiom that Brahms was so keen to assimilate in this concerto. The disc is programmed very thoughtfully, with Joachim's arrangements of some of Brahms' Hungarian Dances for violin and piano (and also Bartok's two Rhapsodies for Violin and Orchestra, again in violin and piano arrangements), continuing the gypsy/folk aspect of the music. Kavakos is a remarkable musician and you would have to go far to find playing of similar calibre.

Brahms – Violin Concerto, Op. 77 (coupled with Bartok Rhapsodies and Brahms Hungarian Dances)

Leonidas Kavakos – violin

Gewandhausorchester/Riccardo Chailly

Decca 478 5342