Violin Concerto, String Quartet No.11, Kraggerud : Henning Kraggerud(Vn)Kluxen / Arctic Philharmonic

With their new Chief Conductor Christian Kluxen and Henning Kraggerud as soloist/composer/arranger, everything is ready for a release containing the most iconic of all violin concertos. Kraggerud has performed Beethovens violin concerto countless times in concert halls all over the world, including Carnegie Hall. The piece has followed him ever since he heard it as a little boy in Oistrakhs 1948 recording falling in love completely. And now the time is right for recording Kraggeruds reading of the concerto, of course with his own cadenzas. Kraggerud wrote the Mantra-Metamorfosen while rehearsing Strausss Metamorphosen for Arctic Philharmonics festival on the island of Svalbard in 2019. Closing the album is the masters quartet no. 11 in F Minor, one of the most compact of all of Beethovens string quartets, in Kraggeruds own arrangement. Kraggerud is Artistic Director of the Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, and together they have released several albums to great critical acclaim: one of the best recordings maybe the best of the Vivaldi cycle. Maybe you can scrap the ones you already have! The solo playing is stunning, the orchestra, the worlds youngest and northernmost, is fantastic and the recording is superb in every respect. Besides that there is a very personal essay on Vivaldi and his four seasons by Erik Fosnes Hansen. Things couldnt be better! (Recording of the Month / Musicweb-international.com]