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JAZZ ON SUNDAY: NICOLA BENEDETTI - LONDON 2022

May 14, 2023 – 7:28 am

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NICOLA BENEDETTI
Plays Wynton Marsalis
with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
conducted by Thomas Søndergård [no label, 2CD]
BBC Prom 67. Live at the Royal Albert Hall, London, UK; September 6, 2022. Very good FM broadcast.

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‘Nicola Benedetti - now, she really can play,’ says the American composer, trumpeter and all-round jazz legend Wynton Marsalis, and after Benedetti gave the world premiere of the concerto that he composed for her in 2015, The Guardian wrote of her ’sparky performance’.

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Claire Seymour, seenandheard-international.com:

This was a Prom which set out to amaze, entertain and delight its audience. And, it succeeded in spades. At its core was a fusion of classical, jazz, blues and Scottish folk music, in the form of Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto, performed at the Proms for the first time by Nicola Benedetti for whom it was written and for whose talents it is tailor-made. It’s an incredibly complex piece, the varied and many conversations constantly shifting and the mood changing. It requires the soloist to be a storyteller and a showman, playing many roles in its mesmerising narrative.

Benedetti shaped the drama with supreme confidence and imaginative insight. Her communicativeness and warmth are second to none and the full-to-the-rafters audience were rapt by her virtuosity and generosity. The first movement ‘Rhapsody’ began with a wisp of violin sound, seemingly drawn out of the silence or pulled from dreams, which Benedetti made bloom with sweet richness and a lovely tranquillity, the full tone of her Stradivarius floating easily to the reaches of the Hall.

Gradually pulse and passion accrued, the solo line discursive, exuberant and vivid, coaxing the orchestra into flamboyance. There were some lovely dialogues between the stratospheric, glistening solo violin and harp, and in the quieter episodes the orchestral texture had a beautifully pillowy softness. The sheer detail and vitality demanded much from players and listeners alike, but Benedetti’s personality and presence brought the parts into a coherent whole, and the movement came to a close with stamping feet and a whistling solo that was jaunty and teasing.

The ’Rondo Burlesque’ was a kaleidoscopic romp, brilliantly executed, its assured swing irresistible.  At one point, Benedetti wandered across the RAH stage to have fun rhythmically duetting with a drummer. ‘Blues’ felt like the heart of the work. Benedetti found lovely colours and textures here, the woodwind murmuring and bubbling around her searching phrases, the strings answering with comforting warm homophony.

Contemplation was raucously tossed aside in ‘Hootenanny’ - described by Marsalis as a ‘whimsical barnyard throw-down’ - in which Scottish and American folk music merged in a boisterous, gleeful, clapping-fuelled romp. The Concerto requires much stamina and Benedetti’s energy and focus were remarkable, though the moment that made the most impact was the quietest one: when, at the close, Benedetti slowly made her way through the orchestra and off-stage, her violin gradually diminishing into stillness.

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Disc 1
Track 101. Thomas Adès - Three-Piece Suite from ‘Powder Her Face’ (Suite No. 1) 11:30
Track 102. Introduction to Prom 67 2:21
Track 103. Introduction to Marsalis’ Violin Concerto 4:25
Track 104. Wynton Marsalis - Violin Concerto 44:09
63 mins

Disc 2
Track 201. Interval, Prom 67 23:52
Track 202. Britten - Four Sea Interludes from ‘Peter Grimes’ 15:48
Track 203. Bernstein - Symphonic Dances from ‘West Side Story’ 23:40
Track 204. Introduction to Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances 3:43
Track 205. Eightsome Reels (trad) 4:20
72 mins

Nicola Benedetti (violin)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård (conductor)

   Click here to order Nicola Benedetti releases.

   Click here to order Wynton Marsalis releases.