Customer Reviews

Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor; Debussy: La Mer

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These recordings of the Mendelssohn E Minor Violin Concerto and Debussy's 'La Mer' derive from a radio broadcast of 25 January 1971. They are, in a word, fabulous performances. The young Pinchas Zukerman plays with fire and tenderness and Giulini and his Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra match him at every turn. If there are a few moments of scrambling ensemble it can be ascribed to this being a live and adrenalin-soaked performance. I, for one, was not bothered by that in the least. I was bothered, however, by the dated, not to say clotted, sound. Zukerman's violin sounds fine but it seems to be coming from deep in the orchestra; there is nothing particularly wrong with that and indeed that is what soloists often sound like in the concert hall. But I am bothered by the somewhat tubby orchestral sound and an indistinct aural ambience that takes away from the excitement of the performance. Still, I was transfixed by the performance itself -- the jaunty first movement, the tender and lyrical middle movement and the incredibly exciting finale. What a violinist Zukerman was!

Giulini's 'La Mer' is exceedingly nuanced. He was known by connoisseurs as a master of French impressionistic color, albeit with an admixture of Mediterranean sunlight -- perhaps this is the sea as seen off the Cote d'Azur rather than the North Sea? -- and indeed that is present here, but again it is sabotaged, although to a lesser degree, by the clouded sonic reproduction. The Cologne RSO (now called the West German RSO) play like the superb ensemble they were.

I've given the CD four stars because of the sound. The performances themselves deserve full marks. Since this derived from a radio broadcast, the timing is a bit short: ca. 54 mins.

Scott Morrison