Beethoven & Barber Violin Concertos

Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61; Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14.

Stella Chen (soloist)

Academy of St Martin in the Fields conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow

Platoon: PLAT29431

There is an immediate sense of freshness to Stella Chen’s debut concerto album, a feeling that these much-recorded works are being enjoyed anew rather than dutifully revisited. Pairing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Barber’s Violin Concerto is not an obvious move, but it turns out to be an inspired one. What links them here is not period or style, but a common humanity, music that speaks directly, without artifice.

Beethoven’s Concerto in D major has clearly lived with Chen for a long time. Her playing finds a natural balance between poise and vulnerability, never forcing the music to sound monumental for its own sake. There is warmth and lyricism in the opening movement, and a sense of dialogue with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields that seems natural. Jean-Jacques Kantorow keeps the orchestra light on its feet, allowing detail and buoyancy to shine through. The Larghetto opens with an almost vocal intimacy, while the finale dances with good humour and clarity.

The Barber concerto offers a different kind of space, and Chen embraces it. It is a performance that embraces expression over display. The first movement sings freely, the slow movement is tender without becoming sentimental, and the final movement’s fireworks feel, as Chen herself suggests, entirely logical. The Naples Philharmonic and BBC National Orchestra of Wales performances that follow later this season will be worth hearing if they carry the same sense of inner conviction found here.

There is also an emotional narrative running through the album. Beethoven is recorded on the 1708 'Huggins' Stradivarius that accompanied Chen after her Queen Elisabeth Competition win, while the Barber introduces the 1720 'General Kyd' Stradivarius, marking both a farewell and a beginning. You can hear that sense of transition in the playing, contemplative but forward-looking.

The album feels like a portrait of a moment, defined by care, curiosity, and a strong personal voice. It does not shout for attention. It simply invites you in and stays with you well after the final notes fade.