Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D major / Mariinsky Orchestra, cond. Valery Gergiev

Seen and Heard International, October 2017

"… an exceedingly fine performance of the Violin Concerto by the Hungarian born violinist Kristóf Baráti. Baráti certainly gets a most beautiful quality of tone from the loaned Stradivarius instrument on which he plays, but it is also a very big, clear sound. His technique is absolutely immaculate. All these qualities served the brisk, rhythmically intricate outer movements of Stravinsky’s four-part concerto admirably, and Gergiev and the orchestra backed Baráti’s bold, assertive delivery to great effect with their crisp, attentive accompaniments. Still more notable was the poetry and eloquence Baráti brought to the solo line in the two inner aria movements. This was playing of the highest quality, deceptively simple, but of extraordinary sensibility."