What pushes this release over the top is the brilliant fiddling of James Ehnes, combined with the incredibly intelligent idea of putting all of Bartók’s string concertos together on a single disc. Ehnes, for his part, is just as comfortable on the viola as he is on the violin. He digs into the rustic Hungarian melodies in the finale of the Viola Concerto or the beginning of the Violin Concerto No. 2 with a richly resonant gusto that never turns crude, while at the same time his impeccable intonation gives the slithery chromatics of the First concerto real shape and direction. He’s a phenomenal artist, make no mistake. Gianandrea Noseda’s accompaniments are very good–bracing and very well paced. As so often from these forces, however, the orchestra is a touch bland–never less than proficient, most of the time a good bit more than that, but also not as arresting and colorful as it could be. Still, as I said, the quality of Ehnes’ playing and the value of the program earn this disc a top recommendation. Anything less would be churlish. [10/7/2011]
