"This is one of the finest Spohr recordings ever made and the reason for this is the fact that Simone Lamsma’s violin playing is simply gorgeous. Add to that a fine orchestral contribution under the direction of Patrick Gallois plus an excellent recording and there need be no hesitation in adding this CD to your collection. Of course, there are many first-rate versions of the Eighth Concerto but the other two works have only been recorded before in the CPO cycle of all Spohr’s violin concertos played by Ulf Hoelscher with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christian Fröhlich.
The Hoelscher performances are enjoyable, well-played and not to be sniffed at but Simone Lamsma brings something extra to the solo part. In his Violin School, Spohr specified two types of performance. Firstly the one where the violinist follows the score in all of its exact details such as tempi, dynamics, phrasing, bowing and so on. This, he said, was known as a “correct” performance. The other was where the soloist penetrated to the heart of the composer’s intentions and, through this ability, was able to add extra feeling to the parameters of the “correct” performance. This was called a “beautiful” performance. He adds: “What transforms the ‘correct’ into the ‘beautiful’ performance is the ability to recognise the character of the piece of music to be performed and to sense and render its prevailing expression.” These comments by Spohr sum up, to our mind, the difference between this new Naxos disc and the CPO ones. Simone Lamsma seems to get into the soul of music whereas Ulf Hoelscher, excellent though he is, lacks this extra amount of passion. But it is not only in the more heartfelt and lyrical parts of the works that we prefer these versions. Simone Lamsma is also at ease with the virtuoso passagework and its testing amount of double stopping while she throws off Spohr’s acclaimed slurred staccatos with aplomb. Tempi are not greatly different between the two artists where the main difference comes in the Spanish Rondo finale of the Sixth Concerto with Ulf Hoelscher livelier, but a slightly broader tempo here allows Simone Lamsma to bring more expression into her playing.
In the Eighth Concerto, she even has the edge over last year’s highly-acclaimed Hilary Hahn version on Deutsche Grammophon. Hilary Hahn’s playing is fabulous but in the Adagio she falls in love with the beauty of the music to such a degree that in attempting to bring out its expressive power, she allows it to come almost to a complete halt whereas Simone Lamsma is equally expressive but keeps the musical pulse moving. In the Eighth Concerto the CPO version still has the edge in the way the horns cut through the texture in the tuttis of the finale but otherwise instrumental balance in this new recording is first-rate. This record can therefore be thoroughly recommended."
