A few months ago I listened to Vilda Frang’s magisterial account of the Elgar Violin Concerto, which lasted 55 minutes. When I saw that Christian Tetzlaff gets through the concerto in just 43 minutes, I must confess to a sinking feeling that I wasn’t going to enjoy it. One reviewer remarked that Tetzlaff would have left the building before Frang had left the stage. 

My favourite recording has long been the Ida Haendel with Sir Adrian Boult, with a duration identical to that of Frang. Well, I can assure you that despite the almost 25% duration deficit the reading is exhilarating, as is the other work on the disc, Thomas Adès’ Violin Concerto, which is much more than a fill-up. 

The Elgar is awesome, both technically and interpretively, but the concentrated tension, always a hallmark of Tetzlaff’s playing, never faltered. Control of dynamics was particularly impressive, well matched by a responsive John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic, who are on fire throughout. Big moments were emphatically but never theatrically done. In the most intimate passages at the heart of Elgar’s concerto, above all in the cadenza near...