![]() Nearly twenty years later the Sibelius scholar Robert Layton wondered why these works were not in the repertory of every violinist of standing. Of these unjustly neglected miniatures, one disappointed English writer in 1947 commented “none of our leading fiddlers has yet to discover them”. M odestly scored for chamber orchestra (strings alone in the central pair), there’s no lack of ambition, each vignette conjuring a specific world, bringing to mind the character portraits within Robert Schumann’s piano music. Premiered in Helsinki in 1919, the Humoresques inhabit a certain melancholy – Sibelius believed them to evoke something of “life’s sorrow lit with rays of sunshine” – yet the music is imbued with a zigeuner-like freshness, regardless that four of these salon-like pieces are in a minor key. Fenella Humphreys brings a special grace to the six Humoresques, works that seem a country mile away from the rugged grandeur of the Concerto or the sense of heroic struggle that occupies the symphonies. Her playing here is no less distinguished, where she confronts and dispatches the virtuosic demands of each piece with handsome tone, nothing short of pitch perfect and plenty of rapt expression from her Guarneri violin. I recall hearing her earlier that same year in Cadogan Hall showcasing Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto and was impressed by her commanding technique and security of pitch. Linking these works is the up-and-coming British violinist Fenella Humphreys who, s ince winning the BBC Music Magazine Instrumental award in 2018, has been in demand throughout the UK and Europe. The bulk of the CD is taken up with Sibelius’s Violin Concerto and the Humoresques, and then the world premiere of Celestial Voyage by the Californian-born composer Nors S Josephson. That Sibelius had been a preoccupation for conductor and orchestra has more recently borne fruit in the wonderfully transparent playing set down by Resonus Classics for this disc recorded in Hoddinott Hall during January and February 2020. Under principal conductor Thomas Søndergård (2011-2018), BBC NOW began a Sibelius recording project with Linn Records which produced four symphonies and a handful of tone poems, all securing mostly favourable reviews. Discovering the orchestra’s new recordings is a matter of detective work, or in my case, chance. Yet no mention is made of the orchestra’s acclaimed discography, including this new Sibelius disc, guest conducted by George Vass, known to many as the Artistic Director of the Presteigne Festival. Further reading points to the orchestra’s award-winning TV soundtracks including Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials and David Attenborough’s Life Story. Amongst the details one can learn about the orchestra since its formation in 1928 is its established reputation in the recording studio, and that BBC Hoddinott Hall boasts ‘one of the largest purpose-built recording studios in the world’. Should anyone turn to the website for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales seeking information about its recordings, they would be quickly disappointed. ![]() 87 & 89, featuring Fenella Humphreys and George Vass. David Truslove reviews a timely release from Resonus Classics – a BBC National Orchestra of Wales recording of Jean Sibelius: Violin Concerto, Op. ![]()
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