01. - 03. Violin Concerto in D major, op.77 [39'42]
Nils-Erik Sparf- violin, Uppsala Chamber Orchestra conducted by Paul Mägi
Swedish Society SCD1162 (recorded May 2010; CD issued 2016)
(digital download; flacs; booklet, cover and inlay scans)
Recording venue: Concert Hall, Uppsala Konsert & Kongress, Sweden
Recording engineer: Fredrik Kollberg; Producer: Paul Mägi
The long delay between the recording date and the issue of this performance on CD may well be due to the record company having nothing else to add to make up a full-length disc. There is absolutely nothing amiss with the performance and recording, made in concert.
I have long held Nils-Erik Sparf's 1982 recordings of the Brahms Violin Sonatas with Elisabeth Westenholz for BIS in very high regard and they remain my favourite recordings to this day. (Although they have been closely challenged by the recordings by Corey Cerovsek and Paavali Jumppanen recently posted here on MIMIC by friend Ranapipiens.)
Sparf came to world renown back in 1984 with the issue of his recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with the Drottningholm Baroque Orchestra, also for BIS, and was the best-selling recording of the work - until 'Nige' came along with his non-HIP version in 1989.
As in his recording of the violin sonatas, Sparf reigns-in his HIP tendencies and uses quite sparing amounts of vibrato to good effect, giving a loving performance of the concerto - but I must say that I do not much care for his own cadenza in the first movement. He is well matched by the reduced-size orchestra under their alert conductor.
Download from MEGA.