Customer Reviews

Itzhak Perlman & Daniel Barenboim - Beethoven: Violin Concerto, Romances 1 & 2

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Itzhak Perlman and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, recorded an excellent live performance of Beethoven's violin concerto - arguably the greatest violin concerto ever composed. Perlman plays the concerto with great versatility - he conveys a sense of virility in the first movement, an almost ethereal peacefulness in the Larghetto, and finally, a joyful, dancelike exuberance in the Rondo. The two Beethoven romances are no less outstanding. The musical dialog between Perlman and the BPO is exemplary.

The CD's sound quality is very good, as are most EMI classical releases. However, in the violin concerto, Perlman does seem balanced too far forward in relation to the orchestra. It should be remembered, though, that this is a recording of a live concert, where engineering allowances are sometimes made for the sake of audiences. The quality of the listening experience doesn't seem to suffer too much from this imbalance.

This version of Beethoven's violin concerto and romances is a good choice, and is certainly recommendable.

Perlman outdoes his own previous recording with Giulini. Even though I'm not a big fan of Barenboim, this recording is outstanding. The Berlin Philharmonic sound awesome and it is one of the best "live" recordings I've run across. But Perlman is simply divine. The man is a genius. Buy this!

I've listened lot of versions of this concert played by some outstanding violinist and conductors, but no one with the inspiration and technical precision of this EMI recording, developed with a great germanic taste in the way they play this music.

It's very well known Daniel Barenboim's affinity with the music of the genius from Bonn and you can listen it very clearly in this live-recording with the Berliner Philharmoniker, in my opinion the most beethovenian orchestra in the world, much more than the Wiener, because of the very german sound the berliners have, a very complex concept to explain but very easy to recognize if you are used to listed some compared versions between the most strong, deep, dense and male Berliner Philharmoniker, and the most clear, opened, crystal-built, and female sound of the Wiener; a difference that was appointed by many artists in different areas of arts and philosophy.

So, what we have here is a high performance, from the technical point of view and from the sense of the performance, a really beethovenian-language version, built up with the conviction and the strong stream Barenboim creates with the orchestral sound. Perlman gives his best in one of his top performances, in my opinion better than the recording with Carlo Maria Giulini for EMI label too. The Romances are wonderfully played too in versions I really love.

The sound it's not bad at all. Of course it's not the best DDD recording I've listened, but it can be enjoyable with a good Hi-Fi system. It's well known that EMI recordings use to be poor sometimes, specially in live-recordings, but this is correct enough.

This recording it's not the same that EMI has released on DVD, both are live-recording and wonderful performances, but I prefer this one from the technical and inspiration point of view.

What a pity that this recording is ruined by the most ridiculous balance between soloist and orchestra imaginable. Perlman is so much to the front, that he seems to be playing a 20-feet long violin. This may have been acceptable in 1930 but certainly not today. EMI engineers should hear some BIS recordings from Sweden.

Itzhak Perlman and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, recorded an excellent live performance of Beethoven's violin concerto - arguably the greatest violin concerto ever composed. Perlman plays the concerto with great versatility - he conveys a sense of virility in the first movement, an almost ethereal peacefulness in the Larghetto, and finally, a joyful, dancelike exuberance in the Rondo. The two Beethoven romances are no less outstanding. The musical dialog between Perlman and the BPO is exemplary.

The CD's sound quality is very good, as are most EMI classical releases. However, in the violin concerto, Perlman does seem balanced too far forward in relation to the orchestra. It should be remembered, though, that this is a recording of a live concert, where engineering allowances are sometimes made for the sake of audiences. The quality of the listening experience doesn't seem to suffer too much from this imbalance.

This version of Beethoven's violin concerto and romances is a good choice, and is certainly recommendable.

This excellent rendition combines the beauty, power, and simplicity that a piece of this great magnitude demands from all those who perform it.

Perlman ... words fail me. Each note he played filled my heart with more joy than it possibly could contain. This is probably my favorite compact disc. Buy it. You won't regret it!

Perlman at his best