The Complete Recordings of Maud Powell, Vol. 1

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Christoph Willibald Gluck (Composer), Charles August de Beriot (Composer), Max Bruch (Composer), Pablo de Sarasate (Composer), Ambroise Thomas (Composer), Edward Elgar (Composer), Maud Powell (Composer), Herman Bellstedt (Composer), Hart Pease Danks (Composer), Victor Herbert (Composer), Emile Sauret (Composer), Henri Vieuxtemps (Composer), Frantisek Drdla (Composer), Percy Grainger (Composer), Franz [Dresden] Schubert (Composer), Frederic Chopin (Composer), Jules Massenet (Composer), Josef A. Pasternack (Conductor), George Falkenstein (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: George Falkenstein
• Conductor: Josef A. Pasternack
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Charles August de Beriot, Max Bruch, Pablo de Sarasate, et al.
• Audio CD (October 16, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B00005NUP4
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #287,813 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Partita No.1 in b, BWV 1002: Tempo Di Borea

2. Minuetto

3. Orphee Et Eurydice: Melodie

4. Vn Con No.7 in G, Op.76: Allegro Maestoso

5. Vn Con No.7 in G, Op.76: Andante Tranquillo

6. Vn Con No.7 in G, Op.76: Allegro Moderato

7. Kol Nidrei

8. Zigeunerweisen

9. Mignon: Gavotte

10. Spanish Dance, Op.26 No.8

11. Salut D'amour

12. Four American Folk Songs: My Old Kentucky Home/Old Black Joe/Shine On/Kingdom Comin'

13. Caprice On Dixie

14. Silver Threads Among The Gold

15. Petite Valse

16. Farfalla, Op.40, No.3 (Will-O'-The-Wisp)

17. Polonaise, Op.38

18. Guitarrero

19. Souvenir

20. Molly On The Shore

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last! Maud Powell's musicianship available again, January 2, 2002

By 

Bradley P. Lehman (Dayton, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Recordings of Maud Powell, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

This is a reissue of "The Art of Maud Powell, a 'Victor Immortal' - complete recordings 1904-1917" prepared by the Maud Powell Foundation (Arlington, VA) in 1989. The guiding spirit behind that foundation, and project director of this collection, is Powell's biographer Karen A. Shaffer.

These three CDs were available only from the Maud Powell Foundation. I managed to get volume 3 several years ago after hearing all three discs from a library, but volume 2 has not been available. So, I've waited for volumes 1 and 2 hoping they'd come back "someday." Well, here they are, and Naxos has also released volume 3 according to their January 2 2002 newsletter.

Maud Powell (1867-1920) was in 1904 the first solo instrumentalist to record for Victor's new celebrity artist series on their Red Seal label. Their promotional materials told us to "Listen to Maud Powell's violin...if you want to find out how much can be got out of a fiddle, go--listen to--Maud Powell." They were right.

Powell's performances are the type of playing that may bring tears to your eyes, going straight to the heart and soul of the music and resonating with whatever you find inside yourself. She starts with a remarkably intense tone and naturally easy phrasing, then adds a tastefully varied vibrato and portamento (as vocally-inspired ornaments to heighten the expressivity). She varies her intonation according to the keys and the directions of the phrases, as her younger contemporary Pablo Casals did on the cello. It is extraordinary, like the best singer one can imagine but going beyond words. It is the kind of performance where it doesn't even matter what music she's playing...classical bon-bons, excerpts, folk songs, whatever. The music becomes a living thing in performances this good: breathing and moving and dancing right in front of you, and commanding your attention. It will get to you and you will feel it. What more needs to be said?

Bravo to Naxos for making these recordings available. The sound is pretty good, too, considering that the recordings were made before the availability of electric microphones. I hardly notice the background noise of the record since the performances are so directly engaging. These discs would be a "must-have" even at three or four times the price that Naxos is asking for them....