Dvořák & Suk: Works for Violin & Orchestra
“Her reading of the Dvořák is agile and characterful, although perhaps lacks the soaring sweetness that the Concertos’ central movement calls for…both Hemsing and ensemble shine much more convincingly in Suk’s Fantasy in G minor…The recording’s real highpoint is, however, the all-too-brief final track of the disc, Suk’s delightful ‘Liebeslied’…Hemsing plays this endlessly tender ‘love song’ with a perfect blend of heart and restraint.“
- BBC Music Magazine
“Her reading of the Dvořák is agile and characterful, although perhaps lacks the soaring sweetness that the Concertos’ central movement calls for…both Hemsing and ensemble shine much more convincingly in Suk’s Fantasy in G minor…The recording’s real highpoint is, however, the all-too-brief final track of the disc, Suk’s delightful ‘Liebeslied’…Hemsing plays this endlessly tender ‘love song’ with a perfect blend of heart and restraint.“
BBC Music Magazine
– MORE REVIEWS –
Highly acclaimed, Eldbjørg Hemsing’s recent recording début was an unexpected juxtaposition of a concerto by her nearly-forgotten compatriot Hjalmar Borgström and Shostakovich’s celebrated Violin Concerto No. 1 (BIS- 2366). The disc that she follows this up with combines two works that make more natural bedfellows, however: the two Czech composers Antonin Dvořák and Josef Suk were particularly closely linked, in that Suk wasn’t only Dvořák’s favourite student, but also his son-in-law. Both had also studied the violin, which makes it somewhat surprising that Dvořák’s Concerto and Suk’s Fantasy are their only large-scale concertante works for the instrument.
Reviews
(Recording)
“Her reading of the Dvořák is agile and characterful, although perhaps lacks the soaring sweetness that the Concertos’ central movement calls for…both Hemsing and ensemble shine much more convincingly in Suk’s Fantasy in G minor…The recording’s real highpoint is, however, the all-too-brief final track of the disc, Suk’s delightful ‘Liebeslied’…Hemsing plays this endlessly tender ‘love song’ with a perfect blend of heart and restraint.”
January 2019
“[The Suk is] a seductive introduction to the disc’s strengths: spotlighting the gleaming, high-calorie tone and expressive phrasing of the young Norwegian violin Eldbjørg Hemsing against swathes of deep orchestral velvet…Big, upfront readings with undeniably attractive solo playing supported by extrovert conducting and an orchestra which, while responsive, is very much a secondary part of the sonic picture.“
December 2018
“A splendid combination of purity and sweeping, Heifetz-like intensity.“
December 2018
The recording was generously supported
by the long-term artistic grant by Göhde Foundation.