Felix Mendelssohn ((1809-1847)
Violin Concerto in E minor, Op.64 (1844)
Symphony No.4 in A, Op.90 ‘Italian’ (1833)
Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840)
Caprices, Op.1; Nos. 11 and 24 (pub 1820) edited Franco Gulli
Christian Joseph Saccon (violin)
Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto/Maffeo Scarpis
No recording information provided
MV Cremona 023/065 [63]
The Mendelssohnian brace is performed by the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, perhaps best known on disc for its Beethoven symphonic cycle conducted by Peter Maag. However, it also recorded the Mendelssohn Concerto with the distinguished Philippe Graffin and conductor Tuomas Rousi back in 2013 on Cobra. It returns to the work here with a leading Italian violinist, Christian Joseph Saccon, in an undated performance at an unknown location – possibly the Auditorium Pollini in Padova.
As he has shown on disc before, Saccon is a flexible and sensitive stylist who bows lightly when he needs to and relies on subtlety rather than muscular power, though he always maintains a good balance between assertion and reflection in the opening movement. His tone colours are rewarding to hear, and he never presses the tempi. Expressive shading in the slow movement comes with some succulent phraseology and changes in vibrato speed. His finale has clarity and directness and he keeps the solo line alive with vibrancy and some interesting phraseology. He is a romantic stylist, in general, and this is not a ‘by rote’ reading. He’s careful to dovetail with Maffeo Scarpis in the closing pages to ensure that the concerto doesn’t run away with itself – it’s by no means over-propulsive. Incidentally, Saccon plays on a Marino Capicchioni instrument of 1942, once owned by Salvatore Accardo.
The orchestra is a smallish one and the acoustic means that it can sound a little close-up (perhaps to compensate) but the winds offer flavoursome solos. The orchestra is heard on its own in another undated performance of the Fourth Symphony, the ‘Italian’ – appropriately. Here, again, the acoustic is a bit of a drawback and doesn’t allow for a back-to-front aural perspective. The performance, though, is neatly sculpted and adroitly directed by Scarpis. You certainly won’t confuse the orchestra with Szell’s Clevelanders – there’s a far more leisurely start here than those audaciously launched Cleveland winds and the slow movement here could do with lighter articulation – but the finale’s bluffness is energetic and if you heard this performance in a concert I dare say that you’d enjoy it.
The disc ends with two Paganini Caprices played by Saccon in Franco Gulli’s Curci edition of 1982, which I presume he prefers to the urtext edition of Renato de Barbieri. He plays them well – I’ve heard him in concert playing Paganini with suave elegance and devilish bravura – and these live performances are both received with justified applause.
The documentation is in Italian and English and the ex-Accardo violin is shown in a splendid two-page colour spread.
Jonathan Woolf
Availability: Import CDs
