Dream of Gerontius…<\/em><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> The flashing arpeggios and fevered multi-stopping ascents are more than technical fripperies: Frang uses them for nuanced emotional commentary, charting a contoured landscape of disquietude in remarkable detail.<\/p>
The slow movement is filled with beautiful playing, seamlessly modulated from ripeness (with measured vibrato) in the lower strings, to a leaner, supple approach in the upper registers. Crucially, Frang never wallows \u2013 some of the unease from the opening movement lingers, but it\u2019s not allowed to suffocate the buoyancy Frang finds in Elgar\u2019s lyrical writing.<\/p>
Frang\u2019s finale is virtuosic without ever being showy. Everything has expressive purpose, from flickering trills to flying splinters of\u00a0spiccato<\/em>. The famous accompanied cadenza<\/a> is suffused by Frang with half-sweet, half-haunted memories and a sense of impenetrable enigma, the high notes and harmonics sweetly sung with perfect intonation.\u00a0\u00a0Anyone interested in Elgar, or in acutely insightful violin playing, should hear it.\u00a0Terry Blain<\/em><\/p>