Presto Editor's Choices - September 2018

Vilde Frang (violin), Erik Schumann (violin), Gabriel Le Magadure (violin), Roseanne Philippens (violin), Lawrence Power (viola), Lily Francis (viola), Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), Jan-Erik Gustavsson (cello)
Orchestre de Radio France, Mikko Franck

Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 1, BB48a, Sz 36
Enescu: Octet in C major Op. 7

"Frang and friends make a gutsy, quasi-orchestral sound in Enescu’s Octet of 1900 (so much so that I had to check that the recording didn’t use the version which the composer sanctioned for full string-section), with plenty of gypsy dash in the outer movements in particular; an entirely persuasive bit of advocacy for a piece that really deserves to be recorded and performed more often." - Katherine Cooper, Presto Classical