Pamela Frank, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, David Zinman - Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 1-5, Haffner Serenade (2000)

Bright, stylish, and lovely, Pamela Frank's recordings of Mozart's five Violin Concertos with David Zinman conducting the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra are surely among the best since Arthur Grumiaux's classic recordings with Colin Davis and the London Symphony of half a century ago. Frank's tone is lean but supple, her intonation is warm but pure, and her technique is second to none. Better yet, Frank's interpretations are ideally balanced between controlled intensity and singing expressivity, the balance that is the essence of Mozart's art. Zinman's accompaniments are themselves ideally balanced between supporting Frank and challenging her. The Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra's playing is colorful, graceful, and comfortable. The bonus of the three central movements of his Haffner Serenade scored for violin soloist with orchestra is wonderfully appropriate and Frank, Zinman, and the Zurich's performance is marvelously elegant. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of Arte Nova's sound, which is too rich, too round, and too reverberant.