3 Violinconcertos from Austria, by Friedrich Gulda, Herbert Berger and Sabina Hank. Great composing, lots of improvisation. review by Nick Barnard/ Musicweb-international.com “Recommended”: Now I have another favourite player, the wonderful Benjamin Schmid turning his hand to three “Jazz Violin Concertos” This Schmid disc is a triumph from first to last. My response is no doubt in part due to a greater personal affinity for the jazz idiom, but I also feel that the actual compositions offered here ‘work’ better. Schmid not only plays but also directs the Swedish group Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra of which he has been Artistic Director since the 2020/21 season. A group photograph on the liner booklet shows fourteen players plus Schmid of whom I assume one is kit drummer Christian Lettner. The playing of this ensemble – which I had not heard before – is simply phenomenal; easily virtuosic for sure but also wholly idiomatic and Schmid in his liner note rightly praises the superb artistic collaboration between him and the ensemble. None of the works offered here are newly composed and Schmid reveals in the same liner that he has been playing some of them for over twenty years. So this is music completely embedded in his performing DNA which is exactly how it sounds. He not only makes light of the many technical hurdles but the idiom is understood and absorbed. This is no Yehudi Menuhin diddling his way through the odd Sweet Georgia Brown beside Grappelli, this is the real thing that I can imagine appealing as much to jazz aficionados as virtuoso violin fans. Alongside the high quality of music and music-making, Gramola have provided a vibrant recording that places Schmid within the ensemble but realistically ‘present’. on Berger: The jazz bass – presumably Musica Vitae’s regular player – drives the music ideally allowing Schmid to riff and improvise above it. This is a genuine discovery – the whole work runs to around twenty-five minutes and it is a delight to listen to – and it must be tremendous, if demanding, fun to play. on Gulda: Of course Schmid plays the Cadenza quite magnificently, but over the Lento Schmid’s playing is genuinely thrilling. This in turn leads to a second shorter Liberamente section with pizzicato ensemble strings giving it more of an extended recitative feel than cadenza although the sheer bravura of Schmid’s playing keeps him very much front and centre. The closing Allegro assai with an electric bass line has an unmistakably 1970’s jazz-funk groove. In lesser hands than Schmid and the Musica Vitae this might well sound slightly arch but here the complete immersion in the style makes for a genuinely exciting conclusion. I would suggest that even the most zealous jazz purist would be hard put not to be impressed by what they hear here. Overall a genuinely excellent programme of three quite different and individual works that combine to make an wholly engaging disc. Especially so when played with the skill, panache and empathy that is shown here. I was hoping this disc would be good but I am delighted at just how good it has turned out to be. Nick Barnard