Homage

Vilde Frang and José Gallardo pay homage to the great violinists of the past and their flamboyant, even poignant, encores. Virtuosity aside, great melodies are the kings here—Gluck’s “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” is a thing of great beauty in Kreisler’s arrangement, and Jascha Heifetz’s version of a movement from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet is dark and mischievous. And through Schumann’s soaring “Widmung” and Debussy’s seductive “La plus que lente,” both expertly transformed, Frang’s superlative musicianship shows how the humble encore can achieve true musical greatness.