Itzhak Perlman - Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto ~ Live in Russia / Mehta

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Composer), Giuseppe Tartini (Composer), Fritz Kreisler (Composer), Sergey Prokofiev (Composer), Ernest Bloch (Composer), Antonio Bazzini (Composer), Zubin Mehta (Conductor), Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Janet Goodman Guggenheim (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Janet Goodman Guggenheim
• Orchestra: Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Zubin Mehta
• Composer: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Giuseppe Tartini, Fritz Kreisler, Sergey Prokofiev, Ernest Bloch, et al.
• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: EMI Classics
• Run Time: 72 minutes
• ASIN: B000002RRV
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,067 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't miss Live in Russia, February 6, 2000

By 

George NR (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Itzhak Perlman - Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto ~ Live in Russia / Mehta (Audio CD)

I am a Perlman Lover and I own both the CD and the video of this concert. This performance contains some of my favorite show-pieces for violin, in particular Tchaikovsky's Concerto in D, Tartini's Devil's Trill, Wieniawski's Caprice in A minor, and Bazzini's Le Ronde des Lutins. The Tchaikovsky and Tartini pieces have been favorites of mine for many years and I grew up listening to them being performed by other virtuoso violinists.

Perlman's mastery of the violin is amazing. I prefer his performances to my long-time favorites. But, while I love his performance of each of the pieces individually, the real power of the CD or video for me is knowing that all of the pieces were all performed in a single concert. Hearing (or seeing) his brilliance in performing piece after piece is awe-inspiring. I am always moved to give him a standing ovation after the Bazzini piece that ends the concert. Recently, I listened to the CD with my eight year old son (who never claps for anything). At the end of the CD, even my son was moved to spontaneous applause.

Don't miss this one.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perlman outstanding, January 3, 2000

By 

J. Buxton "cantabile" (Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Itzhak Perlman - Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto ~ Live in Russia / Mehta (Audio CD)

I have become a fan of Perlman over the years, and I particularly love the Tchaikovsky concerto, so of course I had to have this one. I bought this disc a few days after hearing Perlman perform this concerto live with the Boston Symphony under Ozawa. This live disc captured perfectly the feeling I had sitting in Symphony Hall hearing this concerto. Perlman was not flawless in concert, neither is he on this disc. But his knowledge and feel for the Russian flavor of the piece is uncanny, and his technique is breathtaking. The orchestra could have been captured a bit better. Perlman's encores on this disc are absolutely unbelievable. If you're buying the Tchaikovsky concerto try Perlman's earlier recording with Philadelphia Orch. under Ormandy, as I think the orchestra is heard much better.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great performance; great recording; great occasion, February 8, 2001

By 

The Sanity Inspector (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Itzhak Perlman - Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto ~ Live in Russia / Mehta (Audio CD)

This was one of a spate of classical recordings commemorating (or cashing in on) the end of the Cold War. _Bernstein in Berlin_ was one, celebrating the fall of the Berlin wall; a concert featuring Smetana's _Ma Vlast_ on the occasion of the liberation of Czechoslovakia was another. This disc records the first visit of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra to Moscow, in another sign of the communist crackup of the late 80s and early 90s.

Musically, it's sensational. The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto provides a generous showcase for Mr. Perlman's powers. IMHO it is a bit long, but that's all the more music to enjoy, I suppose. The liner notes contain the very interesting story of how this concerto came about--a famous violinist of Tchaikovsky's day, for whom the work was composed, rejected it for being "unviolinistic"!

The rest of the program features Perlman with a pianist, minus the orchestra. Some pieces, like Wieniawski's "Etudes-Caprices" are really musical bonbons. But reducing the second movement of Tchaikovsky's first string quartet to a single violin and piano is quite a feat. Every musical offering brings down the house; at the end the crowd practically carries him off the stage. The recording is crisp, with a good sense of the hall, with Perlman rightly being given acoustic center stage. A treat!