Renaud Capuçon brings elegance and sweetness to Elgar’s Violin Concerto

The appeal of a major romantic concerto to international violinists has lifted Elgar’s concerto out of the narrow English pigeonhole. All manner of soloists have played it, from the legendary Fritz Kreisler at the premiere, and Yehudi Menuhin with Elgar himself, to today’s masters of the violin, such as Hilary Hahn and Nikolaj Znaider.

French soloist Renaud Capuçon had long wanted to record the Elgar concerto and, seeing his opportunity when musicians’ diaries emptied during the pandemic, brought in Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra to join him.

It follows that there is an elegance and sweetness to his playing that has a distinctly Gallic feel to it. Taking to heart Elgar’s enigmatic inscription “Here is enshrined the soul of . . .”, Capuçon offers an inward-looking performance and the music responds by showing its most tender side.

It is admirable that Rattle should try to match his soloist with such a gentle backdrop and a lot of expressive give-and-take, but unfortunately as much gets lost as gained. At 50 minutes, this is a long concerto and it really needs a stronger backbone to hold it together (how unforgettable are Elgar and Menuhin together, also with the LSO, in their historic recording).

By contrast, the coupling is pure joy. Capuçon is perfectly matched by pianist Stephen Hough in a delightfully understated performance of the Violin Sonata that radiates freshness without losing sight of Elgar’s underlying melancholy.

★★★★☆

‘Elgar: Violin Concerto’ is released by Erato