"Der überbordende Charakter von Edward Elgars Violinkonzert verlangt nach einem schwärmerischen Geigenton. Den hat Nicola Benedetti zu bieten, sie legt sich hinein in ihren Part, schwelgt und singt mit Inbrunst. Und wenn gefordert, etwa im ersten Satz, agiert sie auch mit grosser Vehemenz und solistisch hochfahrend. So stehen sich verschwen­derische Lyrik und offensive geigerische Brillanz kontrastreich gegenüber. Für das souveräne Orchester ist Elgar quasi ein 'Heimspiel'. Drei kleine Elgar-Preziosen als Zugabe erfreuen zum Schluss"

Vurdering: 5/5

"Elgars romantiska och innerliga konsert, komponerad för Fritz Kreisler, lever ett liv i skymundan av Brahms, Tjajkovskijs och Mendelssohns konserter, men förtjäar verkligen en plats jämsides med dessa och Benedettis fullödiga och uttrycksfulla violinton passar den här själfulla musiken perfekt. Oemotståndligt vackert"

"Editor's choice: Thoughtful is how I'd describe Jurowski's conducting ... Perhaps the most moving aspect of this performance - also testimony to Benedetti's knack of getting under the skin the piece - is the finale's haunting accompanied cadenza ... Benedetti shines a beam on the Concerto's reigning quality: sincerity. Nobility too ... Although other digital versions (Ehnes, Hahn, Znaider, Kennedy etc) have also moved me, none that I can recall has made me more keenly aware of just what a great work this is"

"Benedetti's vibrant, beefy full-throttle tone is made for the concerto, and she's an assertive soloist, never disappearing into the glowing textures the London Philharmonic weaves around her. Vladimir Jurowski conducts with a clear eye on the work's huge dimensions, and Benedetti, too, shapes the violin's restless music into long, sinewy paragraphs. Her interpretation may lack the introspective quality of the revelatory recording Nigel Kennedy made back in the mid 1980s, and you occasionally wish Jurowski would risk letting the orchestra run away from him, but the end result is a performance with a sure sense of direction and lots of heart"

"This is a big outing for violinist Nicola Benedetti: the Elgar Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61, is a difficult work both technically and interpretively, and although it has been popular on recordings since the first one appeared in 1929, it is not exactly a crowd-pleaser; Benedetti scores here with a reading that steers a middle path between some well-established approaches ... A fine Elgar concerto that can stand comparison with the other big ones on the market"

"Recording of the week: The Elgar is a work which wears its heart squarely on its sleeve (the composer sheepishly described it as 'awfully emotional'), and Benedetti embraces its full-throttle ardour with open arms ... And there's something about her rapid vibrato and lean, muscular tone which puts me in mind of the very earliest recordings of the piece ... The three evergreens which follow are beautifully done, and given with an almost homely intimacy"