Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 6-8 / Kremer, Argerich

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

 

 

Itzak Perlman & Vladimir Ashkenazy are virtuosic partners in their extraordinary 1970s version of the Beethoven violin sonatas, while Anne-Sophie Mutter's edgy brilliance is balanced by Lambert Orkis steady hand in their 1998 reading of these works. However, Gidon Kremer & Martha Argerich manage always to hold their own against these other two masterful sets in informal blindfold tests I've tried with friends, often coming out a whisker ahead. Painstakingly recorded over an 8-year period starting in 1987, Kremer & Argerich collaborate in full command of this exquisite material. These are two of the finest artists of our day playing together at the top of their game, a breathtaking set of performances of these ten monumental violin sonatas. In this case, Kremer's violin is more the anchor to Argerich's exuberant pianism. Best bet: save your acorns and get all three versions.

The necessary balance between the impetuous and sweeping pianism of Martha Argerich blended with the meditative and reflexive playing of Kremer worked out admirably, because when you have a solid approach these are minor obstacles.

Both of them play these Sonatas with sublime conviction, weeding and acrving in relief the dark and rough Beethovenian dissonances beneath the score, because of Beethoven' s sound must never sound only beautiful.

In spite of the fact I previously commented the winning performers of the whole set of Sonatas are to my mind Szigetti-Arrau, Kempff-Menuhin and for those who wish a lyrical approach Francescati-Casadesus, this is probably the most remarkable recording of these renowned works in the last thirty years.

And this fact is by itself, an emblematic feat.

I bought this from Amazon last few weeks back. I was actually looking for Beethoven Violin Sonata No.5 "Spring" I dont know why I eventually ended up purchasing this CD but Im glad I did. This is one of the most thrilling perfomance by Argerich & Kremer.Kremer's violin sounds very much authentic in sound & performance by the masterful Violinist is great.So is Argerich with her tilting fingers on her piano wow! this is an essential recording indeed.The fact that Im the 2nd person to review this recording is unbelievable to me, Amazon should be calling for a halt to the avalanche of reviews to this recording. For me things started hitting up from Sonata no.1 's "Allegretto con Variazion(1-vi) and then to the end. Violin's movement causes sparks to fly. Needless to say my colleagues at work now love the sound of a violin even though some will not admit to love this music.The understanding between the two instruments & co-ordination is simple out of this world.Musically i would not be able to express the actual movements i.e. in musical terminology since im not a musician but I know when something is not only great but deserves to be appluaded. You buy this one without any inhibitions its a must have for any serious collectors item. By the way I also purchased Perlmans No. 5 "spring" Beethoven violin concerto its also thrilling as well but this one comes tops.

Many reviewers seem somewhat overenthusiastic in awarding the musicians here 5 stars for their talented performance. I am not as enthusiastic however as this performance has various defects and so is not the absolute best nor a candidate to be in that group compared to other performances.

In terms of giving five stars, I consider performances such as Emanuel Bay's and Jascha Heifetz' as a model 5-star performance and Argerich and Kremer just don't meet that bar by a long shot. I found the perfomance of Kremer and Argerich to be very good but each had similar problems. Kremer follows the piano well but his performance is very conservative and there is very little vibrato which he could and should have allowed to emphasize the romanticism of the piece. Argerich had similar problems in that she tended to mute the keys too soon and so made her performance a rather dry one at various points. Their interpretation of the meter is impeccable and both follow the piece very well with fine, perhaps too fine, precision. It is this over-technical precision on their part that tends to muffle the resonance of the instruments and somewhat remove the romantic aspects of Beethoven's works. In poetic fashion, they don't give the instruments time to breathe and sing; they are quickly muted before they can barely sing a note. This is certainly one of many great performances to own but it is not anywhere near the greatest of them. The sound quality however is state-of-the-art and brings out the music very well compared to some older performances of great virtuosos that are sometimes only in mono.

The performance here is kind of dry and technical more than the pieces require and it does limit their romantic effect. Kremer and Argerich are extremely talented but their perfomance is still beneath those of greats such as Emanuel Bay and Jascha Heifetz for example. It's still a good buy to add to one's collection and pleasing to the ears. I own it and I don't regret its purchase at all: it is simply a more conservative interpretation with less emotion than others on the market.