Henri Vieuxtemps: Violin Concerto No. 4, in D minor, Op 31, Misha Keylin

Misha Keylin (violin), Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, Takuo Yuasa (conductor) The Violin Concerto No 4 in D minor, Op 31, which Vieuxtemps composed while he was court violinist in St Petersburg, is an heroic work on a substantial scale and is simultaneously elegant and sophisticated. It was described by Berlioz—who was perhaps comparing it with his own ‘Harold in Italy’ for viola and orchestra—as a symphony with violin solo. In fact Vieuxtemps’s writing for the orchestra is as assured and resourceful, and sometimes as imaginative, as his treatment of the violin, though there is no doubt that the solo instrument remains the leading actor in the drama, reaching heights of stratospheric virtuosity throughout.