Schumann: Violin Concertos in D Minor and A Minor; Phantasie OP 131Hyperion ***

Of the three works here, written for the great violinist Joseph Joachim, only the Phantasie, Op 131, was heard during the composer's lifetime. The others were tainted by posterity's view of the composer's terminal illness. The Violin Concerto in D minor had to wait until 1937 for a first performance, the A minor Concerto, an arrangement of the composer's Cello Concerto, until 1987, with Schuman over 130 years in his grave. The real barrier to appreciation is a kind of ruminative quality, a patience in the way ideas are mulled over. The genuinely patient soloist Anthony Marwood and conductor Douglas Boyd are at their best in the fascinating arrangement of the Cello Concerto, where, although you'll miss the sonority of the cello, the violin stands effortlessly apart from the weight of the orchestra. url.ie/4qdb