Violinist Johan Dalene wins acclaim following his Proms debut on Tuesday (26 July). Jordan de Souza conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a programme featuring the works of Bernstein, Tchaikovsky and George Walker, and Dalene starred as soloist in Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto.
Alexander Hall from Bachtrack writes:
“The evening undoubtedly belonged to the young Swedish violinist Johan Dalene, Barber’s Violin Concerto fitting him like a glove…
Dalene’s superb intonation, honeyed tone and seamless phrasing were apparent from the start, which felt like eavesdropping on a private conversation between soloist and orchestra, the elegance of the discourse underlined by the refinement of the playing. His capacity to sustain an absorbing narrative line, taking the listener through to the pastoral idyll of the slow movement, was one of the remarkable features of Dalene’s reading. It stressed the thaumaturgy of the piece: languid and languorous yielding to subtle inflections of fervent spirit. Here, I was especially struck by the moments of half-remembered heartache, the flickering of new passion and awakening of fresh energy, the distant horizons drawing tantalisingly close as seen through a glass prism. Dalene’s Ysaÿe encore merely confirmed Gramophone’s judgement some years back that he is indeed ‘One-to-Watch’. “
Dalene’s upcoming 2022/23 highlights include his London Philharmonic debut at Saffron Hall, Czech Philharmonic debut with Semyon Bychkov, and a Wigmore Hall performance with Julia Hagen and Igor Levit.
