And now, a fusillade of five French fiddlers to finish: Fouchenneret, Capuçon, Ferras, Papavrami, and Francescatti. (OK, Papavrami was born in Albania, but he's been in France since he was a young kid, so he gets included here.)
First, Pierre Fouchenneret and Romain Descharmes. Fouchenneret's open reminds the listener of Bach to an extent, and while not at all devoid of vibrato, he uses less than some others. Descharmes' playing stays kind of surface-deep to start, and he and the engineers cede slightly to Fouchenneret. As the music unfold in the Presto, the duo pick up the pace and play with more energy, and things sort of cumulatively pick up until the playing just before the coda assumes a sort of scale and oomph that satisfies handily. In the Andante, the duo keep things light start to finish, with some of the playing taking on an uncommonly dance-like feel, and Fouchenneret's highest register playing takes on a most appealing feathery sound. With an approach offered by the duo, one would expect, and one gets, a delightful and delicate fourth variation, too. The Presto has a very dance-like style to the playing, and the due keeps things light and playful more or less the whole way through. Very, very nice.
