Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos; Hebrides Overture

Alina Ibragimova (violin), Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Vladimir Jurowski Hyperion CDA 67795 ****

Mendelssohn wrote two solo violin concertos, the first at the age of 13, the ubiquitous second more than 20 years later. The teenage concerto is stylistically derivative but full of high spirits. Alina Ibragimova’s account of it is as bracing as a ride in an open-topped sports car, and Vladimir Jurowski’s conducting of the period strings of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is equally fresh.

Ibragimova takes corners at speed in the later work, too, and undertakes leaps with dangerous immediacy and pinpoint accuracy – the effect of her approach is to make her playing sound that little bit faster than it actually is. The recorded balance shines a welcome light on the orchestra that's simply not possible in versions where the soloist is excessively spotlit. url.ie/4qdb