Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 / Romances for Violin and Orchestra: No. 1 in G Major, Op. 40; No. 2 in F Major, Op. 50

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Zukerman's playing here is absolutely beautiful. Every note he plays seems perfectly, beautifully articulated. The tempos here are taken somewhat slower than customary, but I feel that this is the only way it could have been done: any faster, and Zukerman's supremely elegant, deeply expressive playing would have seemed rushed. It seems to me that most people think that the concerto is a virtuoso piece, which is the way it is normally performed, but here is revealed something profoundly deeper than the somewhat trivial flashiness that most are used to. The Chicago Symphony in some parts is a bit imprecise (at least, that is what I hear), but Barenboim does a fine job conducting, with a broad, expansive style that complements Zukerman's violin playing perfectly, I think. I feel most wonderful is the third movement. The Romances are not as profound as the Concerto, but they are played very well too, and complement the expansive, "romantic" (I put this in quotations because it seems every person has very different definitions of what is romantic) interpretation of the Concerto.

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote only one violin concerto, and yet, the one he wrote definined the history of this intrument for all time. There is no other concerto that I am aware of that achieves the same level of vibration or transmission between composer, performer and listener. Mozart, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Bruch, Sibelius; all wonderful concertos in their own rights, but nothing like it compared to the Beethoven one. Here, the violin is not just making music or follwing a melody; it speaks, it talks, it resonates: It lives! Only here the instrument has a true language, a communication, a feeling of its own, and sometimes I think, especially in the adagio, it tells us a story, a story like the blues sometimes does, yes, I would almost say ths concerto has the blues! With Zukermann, Barenboim and the CSO as formidable interpreters, this concerto paints a picture of romantic music like nothing else before or since.

Barenboim/CSO works as a one sound all the time.

With Zukerman's romantic violin sound, it's a masterpiece.

When I came to classical music in my late teens, this is the recording of Beethoven's VC I "grew up with" (I had it in the form of cassette tape). The VC must have been also one of the first pocket scores I purchased, and listening to this version with score in hand, I was very happy with it. I had read some lukewarm reviews, and I didn't understand what they were talking about. Some time later I acquired Oistrakh-Cluytens and liked it even more (Beethoven & Bruch: Violin Concerti (Oistrakh)), but I always retained a very positive and sympathetic memory of Zukerman-Barenboim. So I was curious to hear it again after all these years and now that I have so many more versions of the Violin Concerto under my belt - in my ears, rather.

Now, I understand what the lukewarm reviews were about.

On the positive side, there's Zukerman unfailing beauty and sweetness of tone, reminding me of Francescatti (with Walter in 1961, Beethoven, Sibelius: Violin Concertos) and Josef Suk (with Boult in 1970, Beethoven: Violin Concerto, Romances / Suk, Boult, Marriner). Like them (but here closer to Suk than to Francescatti), he offers a very lyrical view of the Violin Concerto rather than a dramatic one. He and Barenboim adopt a very relaxed tempo in the first movement, one that evokes the Pastorale on a lazy, sunny day rather than the Eroica. If you want to look at things positively, you might say that Barenboim is entirely in-sync with Zukerman's lyrical view. The orchestra in the first movement is contemplative rather than passionate, but also lacking bite and muscularity to the point of sounding sluggish. In the versions of, say, Kreisler and Barbirolli (1936, Violin Concertos), Francescatti and Walter, or even Suk and Boult, the fiddler may promote an essentially lyrical view of the concerto at the expense of its more dynamic and dramatic side, but each respective conductor brings a muscularity and snap to his orchestra that appropriately counter-balances the soloist's approach. Some may feel that the two contradict each other. Yet I've never felt that about these versions, but rather that the two were complementary rather than contradictory. Here, with Barenboim, you may feel that the conductor is in-sync with his soloist; I only hear sluggishness and lack of involvement.

The approach works best in the middle movement, one of the slowest I've heard and certainly far away from the "Larghetto" intended by Beethoven (it runs exactly like Kreisler with Barbirolli in 1936, and above the 10-minute mark) and shows moving restraint and hushed emotion.

The finale is unhurried, and although Barenboim whips us his orchestra to fine muscularity in the tuttis, Zukerman's elegant playing conveys an impression of gentleness rather than boisterousness.

Ultimately, Zukerman's angelic beauty of tone is the forte of this version, but also its nemesis, in a way. One feels that there is too much restraint and guardedness, as if from fear of shattering to splinters that beautiful tone as a fragile crystal sculpture.

In the two Romances (recorded in 1974 and originally paired on LP with Sibelius' VC, now on CD with this same Beethoven on an Australian reissue, Beethoven: Violin Concerto/Sibelius: Violin Concerto), Zukerman's angelic tone conveys a slightly plangent atmosphere which is more suited to these unassuming works, and he shows admirable attention to the details of articulation, while Barenboim molds the orchestral balances with fine care, but I find that their slow tempos (the norm back then),especially in the 2nd Romance, solemnizes the music more than it should.

I don't think I was cheated all these years ago when I learned Beethoven's Concerto from this version, but it was certainly a very partial view, that needed to be complemented by much else to get to the core of what Beethoven's VC is all about.

I got this as a present for my mother and she loves it. Beethoven only wrote on Violin Concerto, but this is a good one and a great performance. I love Beethoven so much, that I even got the complete Beethoven Collection from Brilliance Collections.

It doesn't get much more perfect than this. Zukerman, CSO, and Beethoven. I highly recommend this CD.

I LOVE Beethoven's violin concerto, and seeing this CD with a great conductor, a great violinist, and a great orchestra, I thought it would be a good performance. Wrong! Zukerman's tempos are so terrible. Just listen to lazy solos at the beginning of the third movement. Barenboim's conducting doesn't help either, sounds too large and bombastic, even violent. One music critic said the violin sounds like it has "fat" on it. Well, I wouldn't go that far, but it doesn't sound refined and pure enough for Beethoven's concerto. I would recommend Itzhak Perlman's recording with Giulini on EMI, it has better-judged tempos, better conducting and orchestral accompaniment, more beauty, and more refined technique. In fact, it's the best version I have ever heard, so much more beautiful than the Zukerman recording. As for Zukerman, his performances of the Romances aren't bad, but I can't stand his solos in the violin concerto.