Rode: Violin Concertos Nos. 3, 4 & 6

"These three concertos, all first recordings, are minor masterpieces of their time and place. Though highly taxing for the soloist - even if Friedemann Eichhorn does not let it show - they are hugely entertaining and satisfying for the listener. The Jena Philharmonic, in its first recording for Naxos, under the Uruguayan conductor Nicolás Pasquet work splendidly and modestly together and with Eichhorn to produce expressive, persuasive accounts of the three Concertos. Eichhorn's own cadenzas are as dazzling as his playing, which is sweet of tone, fleet of finger and marvellously communicative."
(Recording of the Month MusicWeb January 2012)

Pierre Rode was one of the giants of the violin world. He was a performer of superb technique - he premièred Beethoven's last Violin Sonata in Vienna - and wrote a large amount of music for his instrument, most prominently 13 concertos. They exhibit the highest qualities of the French School; grace, lyricism, fleetness and fluency. The Third is grandiose and brilliant, the Fourth is tauter and gloriously agile, whilst the Sixth is one of his greatest, most famous and complete statements in the concerto form. The first release in this series, (Concertos Nos. 7, 10 and 13 / 8570469), earned Friedemann Eichhorn the highest plaudits: "sweetness of phrasing … with the delicacy of a caress - while skirting the technical minefields as if they didn't exist." (Fanfare).