Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor; Bruch: Romance in F for viola and orchestra; Violin Concerto No. 1.(Sound recording review)

Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor; Bruch: Romance in F for viola and orchestra; Violin Concerto No. 1. Janine Jansen, violin; Riccardo Chailly, Gewandhausorchester. Decca B0007260-2.

It's hard to argue with success, especially when you're a virtuoso violinist and a beautiful woman like Janine Jansen. However, it's hard to tell just which quality Decca is selling here, given that Ms. Jansen is featured seven times on the CD cover and in the booklet insert. Indeed, the sixteen-page booklet devotes nine of its pages to pictures of the artist, several of them two-page spreads. Well, you can't blame the company, I suppose. Selling classical albums is like selling anything else. Which in this case is some pretty well-played music.

Ms. Jansen approaches the Mendelssohn in a traditional manner, with her dexterity and poetic touch well in evidence, the concerto giving her ample opportunity to show her skills since it begins by introducing the violin from the outset. She says that for her it is not the familiar, grand opening movement or even the rousing finale but the slow second movement Andante that is at the heart of the work; so, naturally, it is here that she concentrates her efforts, bringing it off quite fluently and tenderly. Then after that moment of repose, she dazzles us with her brilliant technique in the closing Allegro.