Prokofiev: Violin Concertos 1 & 2 CD review – music with something to say

Prokofiev’s violin concertos, twin stars of the 20th-century repertoire, are not short of recordings, but Matthew Trusler’s new disc is a worthwhile addition to the list. You may hear these works played with more obvious pizzazz, but not with such a sense of every line being thought through, of every phrase having a direction in which to go and something to say.

Trusler’s sound is strong, ardent and occasionally a little swoopy; it is captured relatively close, but the tone is confiding, rather than hectoring. Conductor Grant Llewellyn has the BBC National Orchestra of Wales working as one with their soloist, balancing transparent layers in the accompanying textures and bringing out solo players to duet with the violin. The finale to the Concerto No 2 is a rambunctious, rustic stomp of a movement, its opening a moment of release after the seemingly endless lyrical line Trusler has been spinning.