Johan Dalene’s new album, Nielsen & Sibelius: Violin Concertos is named a Gramophone Editor’s Choice. The album, which features the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by John Storgårds, is available on BIS.
In his Editor’s Choice review, Andrew Mellow writes:
“Dalene’s Nielsen remains as fresh, plain-dealing and stimulating as it was in 2019 [when he won the Nielsen Competition]. …There is character here at every turn. …Dalene always sounds like himself – in his distinctive, delicious and very present savoury tone (never revelled in for its own sake) and in his ability to fix a point on a horizon and play, unhurriedly and with a sense of purity, towards that point. That pays spectacularly in Sibelius’s Concerto. …Dalene’s highly distinctive phrasing draws attention to all sorts of linked patterns and shapes in the composer’s unique syntax while never distorting the line or seeming incongruous – as though Dalene’s distinct ideas about phraseology have come to him in the moment, entirely naturally. …For my money, there’s no finer coupling of these highly constrasting yet much-associated concertos on record. I suspect the individual performances could well prove superlative for many listeners, too.”
Gramophone’s April issue, available now, also includes Dalene’s in-depth interview with Charlotte Gardner where he discusses the recording, his mentors and inspirations, and career.
For more information and to listen to Johane Dalene’s acclaimed Nielsen & Sibelius: Violin Concertos, please visit bis.se
Watch Johan Dalene plays Sibelius & Nielsen violin concertos
