Recordings

Repin the Siberian takes a decidedly French turn in his latest pair of releases--one composed of French music for violin and orchestra, the other recorded live in the Louvre Auditorium with a potpourri of friends. Repin definitely has the Symphonie Espagnole under his belt, laying into the phrasing with elan and a raw Slavic edge, concluding with a rhythmically alive Rondo despite Nagano’s perfunctory accompaniment (Zubin Mehta provided much more alert support for Repin when they performed the Lalo at the Performing Arts Center of L.A. last December). Repin also sports a rough-edged tone in the Ravel piece, though the interpretation and that of the Chausson are mostly on the cool side. On the other disc, Repin takes on a procession of collaborators--two Russians, a Finn and a Hungarian Gypsy. Yet the perfectly acceptable performances of Debussy’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Schubert’s Grand Duo in A, the Blues movement of Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Piano and even Prokofiev’s acerbic Sonata for Two Violins are thrust into the shade by the wild encore, a perpetual-motion Gypsy number with the Lakatos ensemble in which Repin is figuratively on fire. How about more of this flaming music on a future release?