Gramophone Album Review

02 March 2026

JoAnn Falletta, on the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s Beau Fleuve label, evinces real feeling for Strauss’s score, bringing its surging, heroic passages to life as well as its lyrical beauty, wit and occasional episodes of disquiet. The outpouring of ardour at the climax of ‘The Hero’s Companion’ takes one’s breath away, and Nikki Chooi’s interpretation of the writing for solo violin here and in the final section is characterful and deeply felt. The Beau Fleuve album does, however, include the first recording of the Violin Concerto by the Iranian-born composer Behzad Ranjbaran. Composed in 1994 for Joshua Bell, the concerto makes use of Persian modes and rhythms, is rich in sinuous melodic invention and enjoys colourful, cinematic scoring. It’s a work of considerable appeal that deserves wider exposure. Chooi gives a fluent reading of the solo part, and the recording is slightly more focused than in Ein Heldenleben.