REVIEW POTPOURRI – Mozart: Violin Concertos 1-5

by Peter Cates

Adagio and 2 Rondos

Lena Neudauer, violinist, with Bruno Weil conducting the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrucken Kaiserslautern; SWR Music, 2 CDs, recorded 2013.

Lena Newdauer

Lena Neudauer, born in 1984, displayed extraordinary talent early in her childhood, but steered clear of starting her career during adolescence. In quoting her from the set’s liner notes, “I did not want to live in hotels and be constantly on stage when I was only 15.”

Instead, she kept learning under the tutelage of a few teachers, Thomas Zehetmair standing out among them. She performed with chamber music colleagues, a rock band on keyboards and percussion and got married and brought 2 children into the world. In short, she began her career with her feet firmly on the ground and considers her life a very happy one.

Neudauer’s set of Amadeus’s five Violin Concertos, Adagio in E Major and Rondos in B and C display a most level-headed intelligence, endearing sensitivity to every note and formidable virtuosity at the service of music. While quite familiar with Concertos 2-5 through recordings of Arthur Grumiaux, the Schneiderhan Brothers, Giaconda da Vito, Jascha Heifetz, Pinchas Zuckerman, Leonidas Kavakos etc., I find Neudauer’s performances worth adding to the shelves.

Her performances of the lesser-known 1st Violin Concerto, Adagio, and 2 Rondos bring out their own beauties, raising the desirability of this set for those who cherish these Concertos and who like fine music. Certain “music-critics in-the-know” have these works at a lower level than Mozart’s Piano Concertos, Symphonies and Operas; as far as I am concerned, they are full of claptrap. A set very much worth hearing and owning !

Recommended 4th of July music: anything by Aaron Copland, Stephen Foster, Edward MacDowell, Charles Ives, Burl Ives, The Weavers, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Samuel Barber, Charlie Mingus and other great American musical figures.