Customer Reviews

Beethoven/Sibelius: Violin Concertos

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful disc that was recorded in the 1950's. It features an outstanding violinist playing two very good pieces of music.

Oistrakh's violin is featured quite prominently throughout both performances, at times even a little more than I would prefer. I do not know how much this is due to the fact that he is playing with a less-notable orchestra & conducter, or how much it is just the result of older recording techniques. Regardless, Oistrakh shows that he is capable of carrying both pieces with plenty of personality and some amazing displays of his virtuosity. The recording manages to capture the wonderful richness of his tone, which is every bit as gritty as it is graceful. Although I would not characterize the orchestra's sound as exceptionally clear or colorful, it comes through very warmly and with enough strength to create some very moving music.

For anyone who enjoys this disc, I would also highly recommend the Testament label's recording of Rostropovich playing the Dvorak concerto.

Five stars, in spite of two things: poor sound quality (1954) and the fact that I am not impressed by the Sibelius concerto - Heifetz/Hendl better, Stern/Ormandy better. Five stars because this perfect Beethoven performance in spite of poor sound has a wonderful, antique atmosphere, an air of patina and a passion more than able to carry this even above the top five stars. It seems very difficult to play Beethoven's Violin Concerto with both the dignity and the passion this work - so different from all other Beethoven - demands. Here Oistrakh and Ehrling prove able to keep it capturing to the very end! I have many recordings of this concerto, but the only CD that I find equally good and, from another point of view, significantly better, is again by Oistrakh, with Cluytens & Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française (1958), which is slower, grander and has more dignity to the pacing, but not the same passion. That one - Legend: David Oistrakh [CD & DVD] - will be released in the US on July 19 and I'll return to it then. Anyway, this Oistrakh/Ehrling from 1954 is very impassionate and in full right on its own merit. Passionately recommended!

Finding the perfect recording of the Beethoven violin concerto is a daunting task, if not an impossible one. So many virtuoso performers insist on playing the piece as if it were written 100 years later than it was, showing off their technical excellence in lieu of the purity, the serenity, and the astounding depth of the greatest violin concerto ever written. I have tried many, many recordings of the piece, and it took this one for me to settle, at least, on a favorite.

Beethoven was a serious man. He meant his dynamic and tempo markings, so when a Nigel Kennedy performance drifts from one tempo during the tutti portions to a completely different tempo during the solo portions, it drifts away from Beethoven. When Anne-Sophie Mutter and the like insert rubato where there ought not be any, they insert something running against the grain of the composition, and it stands out as such. When Pinchas Zuckerman, so wonderful on the Beethoven sonatas, takes some parts at an agonizingly slow pace, the listener can almost see Beethoven wincing in agony. Heifetz makes the piece fun, but even he turns it into a showpiece, a race more than a work of art.

And then there is David Oistrakh. With this performance, every note is in its proper place. Every phrase is as it should be. Every heartbeat of the kettle drum in the first movement signifies a Beethoven performance that is alive and simply transcendent. Nothing distracts from the superb structure, the wonderful sound, or the flawless interpretation.

While there are other wonderful recordings of Beethoven (e.g. Zino Francescatti with Bruno Walter, which also comes with an Oistrakh version of Sibelius), this one is the best. If it is not in your musical library, it should be.

This recording was recommended to me by a music professional as "the best Sibelius ever," but I found it rather disappointing in several respects.

First, the recording technique is quite poor--both the original mix and the transfer to CD. The original recording engineer put the violin too far out in front at the expense of the orchestra. This piece, perhaps more than any other violin concerto, needs close integration between the solo and orchestra. And the sound quality of the CD is sadly deficient. Yes, it was originally recorded in the 50s. But other music from that period does not suffer the same weakness. I'm thinking, for example, of the early Segovia recordings and the Toscanini radio broadcast transcriptions from the same period, which fairly shine and sparkle in comparison to this.

Second, it seems to me that neither the conductor nor the soloist really understood the music. I had the impression in many places that they thought they were playing something by Brahms instead of by Sibelius. In general, the interpretation is, I thought, much too romantic, with long pauses between figures, exaggerated sweeping dynamic and tempo changes within a short phrase. And the tempo is too slow in many places--with a sense of relaxed and gentle pleasure where it should be intense and demanding. The orchestra entrances are too often tentative where they should be vigorous, as if the conductor didn't want to be accused of upstaging the soloist. The soloist is more positive in many of his entrances, but still without the intensity this piece desires. This piece needs a bold intensity in all its parts. Oistrakh is too often playing with a light bow up near the finger board where he should be pressing harder down near the bridge.

Third, Oistrakh's technique often leaves much to be desired. In particular his attack intonation is often sloppy, particularly up in the higher positions. Not that he plays out of tune, but he often has to slide onto the pitch after he attacks the note.

One would think that the Beethoven would go better, but it really doesn't. The orchestra opens with a plodding diffidence. Oistrakh stretches the first movement out to more than 24 minutes, which I think is an unforgivably slow tempo, and the playing often seems to me thin and weak and insecure. (I don't think all of that can be laid at the feet of the recording and transcription engineers.)

I still give preference to the Heifetz recording of the Sibelius by a wide margin. He gives this piece the dark brooding intensity it needs for a fully satisfying performance. And he plays all of his notes on pitch. Even the initial attacks! He also plays "with" rather than "against" the orchestra, so that the solo and orchestra work together musically in a modern sensibility rather than on separate planes in the older romantic manner.

In all, listening to the Oistrakh recording of the Sibelius concerto after the Heifetz is a bit like hearing the Beethoven piano sonata Opus 106 by Barry Douglas after Ernst Levy. It amounts to a terribly disappointing letdown.