Young violinists sometimes turn war horses like the Tchaikovsky Concerto into superficial virtuoso displays to show off their technique, but Julia Fischer gives us a thoughtfully nuanced view of the work that exposes details often ignored. Her tone is beautiful, and she varies it to fit the emotional content of the passages she is playing. While her performance is expressive, it is also a mature one -- she doesn t milk parts for their surface impact, rather she digs more deeply into the music to produce a performance that will bear many rehearings. While Fischer generates plenty of excitement in the outer movements, the Canzonetta remains in the memory for the sweet singing of her violin. Her lyric sensibility also makes for a Sйrйnade mйlincolique stunning in its spare beauty. The Valse-Scherzo, Op. 34, is done with plenty of dash, and the three-movement Souvenir d un lieu cher is superbly done. The contributions of Kreizberg and the Russian National Orchestra help make this disc a worthy contender even in a crowded market for Tchaikovsky Concerto discs. Kreizberg is also a sympathetic piano accompanist in the Souvenir d un lieu cher.

This very fine Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto will come as a surprise to those who view Arcadi Volodos merely as a barn-storming virtuoso with few ideas and even less subtlety. His attack on the opening chords is big and bold, to be sure, but he never bangs, and once the first movement proper gets going he s noteworthy for the smoothness and flow that characterizes the first subject, and the very relaxed wistfulness with which he shapes the work s more reflective moments. In truth, Volodos and Ozawa have a tendency to let the tension sag a little in the movement s later stages, particularly just before the coda, but only very slightly.