Isabelle Faust ‎- Dvořák: Violin Concerto Op. 53 / Piano Trio Op. 65 (2004)

For some reason, Dvorák's warm, round, lovely, and lyrical Violin Concerto has never made it as one of the big-time nineteenth century violin concertos. Who can tell why? Perhaps because the big-time twentieth century violin virtuosos didn't take it up like they did the concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, and Bruch? Perhaps because the 1961 recording of the work by Czech violinist Josef Suk remains the definitive recording and none of the violinists who took it up could never quite compare with Suk's.
But, inevitably every decade or so, a young violin virtuoso will take up Dvorák's concerto and this decade's violinist is Isabelle Faust. A very talented player, Faust honorably acquits herself, but her performance cannot quite compare with Suk's. Her phrasing is warm, her tone is round, her lines are lovely, and her interpretation is lyrical. But for all that, Faust is still playing the work from the outside. Supported by the great Czech conductor Jirí Belohlávek leading the Prague Philharmonic, Faust's performance misses greatness by the small but insuperable distance between her to the music. Faust's performance of Dvorák's passionately melancholy Piano Trio in F minor with violinist Jean-Guihen Queyras and pianist Alexander Melnikov is superbly played and passionately interpreted, but unfortunately misses the work's melancholy heart. Harmonia Mundi's digital sound is warm and round, but a bit too close.