Elizabeth Wallfisch, The Parley of Instruments, Peter Holman - English Classical Violin Concertos (1996)

Posted By: tirexiss

Date: Nov. 10, 2025

The intervening dozen years since I reviewed Hyperion’s initial release of four English Violin Concertos (66865, 20:2) may not have witnessed a surge of interest in these works; nevertheless, the panache that Elizabeth Wallfisch brought to them in her recording sessions in January 1996 has hardly paled with the passage of time. These violinist-composers, contemporaries of Viotti and Mozart, wrote in an Italianate style, with woodwind splashes (all four concertos include oboes and horns, and Linley’s adds flutes as well) that enhance the kind of concertante symphonic sound which Paul Stoeving noted in Viotti’s concertos. The editions William Davies and Peter Holman prepared for the recording omit violas from the concertino when it accompanies the soloist, incidentally strengthening the contrast with the heavier, woodwind-laden tuttis that alternately gallop in hunting style and provide a blanket into which to tuck the harmonies. James Brooks’s Concerto may not showcase the same virtuosic technique as does Thomas Linley’s, but its more straightforward vigor and the brightness of its orchestral writing lend it an interest of its own. Linley inherited Tartini’s technique through Pietro Nardini—and apparently added to that substratum highly effective technical effects of his own. Shaw based his slow movement on an ethnic tune replete with Scotch snaps and melodic ornaments. The second of Samuel Wesley’s eight violin concertos appeared when he had reached only the age of 15 (two years after his first). He must have been a precocious violinist (to say nothing of his abilities as a composer) if he actually played the piece himself, which he presumably did.

Wallfisch, Holman, and the orchestra give these pieces sparkling, light-hearted readings, unlike dark or soggy ones that A=430 might suggest. Wallfisch plays an edgy but bright-sounding modern Guarneri-style violin made by Ekkard Seidl in 1995 (only a year before the recording), evincing a winning stylistic congeniality and a delight in the works’ showy technical passages that seem, as mentioned at the outset, even more impressive after the lapse of the dozen years since the recording’s original issue. The recorded sound still seems buoyant and three-dimensional. And still, then, highly recommended. – Robert Maxham

hyperion-records

Track List:

James Brooks - Concerto No 1 In D Major (15:28)
1 – Allegro Moderato 8:05
2 – Largo Affettuoso 2:08
3 – Rondeau 5:08
Thomas Linley Junior - Concerto In F Major (16:04)
4 – Moderato 7:24
5 – Adagio 1:55
6 – Rondeau 6:38
Thomas Shaw - Concerto In G Major (14:09)
7 – Allegro Moderato 7:29
8 – Arioso 2:52
9 – Rondeau 3:41
Samuel Wesley - Concerto No 2 In D Major (18:03)
10 – Allegro Maestoso 10:13
11 – Largo 3:50
12 – Rondeau 3:54

Performers:
Elizabeth Wallfisch (violin)
The Parley of Instruments
Peter Holman (conductor)

EAC Log

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 10. December 2013, 20:23

Elizabeth Wallfisch / VC - English Classical Violin Concertos - Elizabeth Wallfisch

Used drive : TSSTcorpCDDVDW SH-222BB Adapter: 2 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "TRACKTOTAL=%numtracks%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" -T "PERFORMER=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %source% -o %dest%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.72 | 8:07.65 | 72 | 36661
2 | 8:08.62 | 2:09.18 | 36662 | 46354
3 | 10:18.05 | 5:18.70 | 46355 | 70274
4 | 15:37.00 | 7:25.37 | 70275 | 103686
5 | 23:02.37 | 1:55.53 | 103687 | 112364
6 | 24:58.15 | 6:46.72 | 112365 | 142886
7 | 31:45.12 | 7:31.15 | 142887 | 176726
8 | 39:16.27 | 2:54.30 | 176727 | 189806
9 | 42:10.57 | 3:51.43 | 189807 | 207174
10 | 46:02.25 | 10:16.35 | 207175 | 253409
11 | 56:18.60 | 3:52.40 | 253410 | 270849
12 | 60:11.25 | 3:56.50 | 270850 | 288599

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename G:\Ripped general\[2642] VC – English Classical Violin Concertos – Elizabeth Wallfisch\VC - English Classical Violin Concertos - Elizabeth Wallfisch.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.3 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 3AA82490
Copy CRC 3AA82490
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [6351F810] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [7DA52EC0] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [18EA78B2] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [C71DB450] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [F6621EE8] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [70C952EF] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [1072B8CD] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [A7BD6F0E] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [D3E25F8A] (AR v2)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [F58B7D4C] (AR v2)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [E9090668] (AR v2)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [68916738] (AR v2)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

Thanks to the Original ripper (unknown)!

Welcome to my blog!

Download:

Download from icerbox.com