Mozart: Violin Concertos [Hybrid SACD - DSD]

Mozart (Artist), Julia Fischer (Artist), Yakov Kreizberg (Artist), Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 18, 2005)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD
• Label: Pentatone
• ASIN: B0009KBMKI
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,052 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #88 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Strings > Violin

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super!, November 6, 2005

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mozart: Violin Concertos (Audio CD)

Julia Fischer is a young (b. 1983) German violinist who seems to be making lots of CDs these days. She has previously recorded a CD of Russian violin concertos and another of Bach Partitas and Sonatas, among others, and they have received very positive reviews. My take on this CD will add to that acclaim. This is a very talented, musicianly and exciting violinist. She is given sensitive, historically-informed accompaniment by Yakov Kreizberg and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. And the sound, both in the SACD and the plain vanilla CD versions -- both contained on this hybrid disc -- is exemplary. The orchestral sound is transparent -- one can hear everything -- and yet the soloist stands out. Fischer's use of a variety of tone and vibrato is outstanding. Her management of dynamics is extremely subtle and rewarding. Her phrasing is limpid, classical; she clearly understands the difference between the kind of sound needed in her previous recording of concerti by Khachaturian, Prokofiev and Glazunov and the purity required by Mozart. Not only that, she supplies her own very nice (and not self-servingly outré) cadenzas in several of the movements. The cadenza for the slow movement of the Third Concerto was written by Kreizberg. Only in the last movement of the Fourth Concerto does Fischer use the cadenza we're most familiar with, that of Joseph Joachim. The cadenza in the finale of the Third is by Sam Franko (a name new to me) with an emendation by Fischer herself.

To round out the disc and bring its timing up to a full 60 minutes, Fischer and her colleagues give us the Adagio for Violin and Orchestra in E major, K. 261, and the Rondo for Violin and Orchestra in B Flat major, K. 269. These are rarely heard but are welcome additions to the CD.

I would welcome any new recordings Ms Fischer chooses to make. I would love to hear her perform the Sibelius concerto. I suspect that would be sensational. But I would also love to hear her play the other Mozart concerti (although 3 & 4 are my favorites) as well as the Sinfonia concertante with, say, her German colleague, violist Tabea Zimmermann. There are other wonderful recordings of the Third and Fourth Concerti, but this CD deserves to stand with them.

An easy recommendation.

Scott Morrison

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding and moving performance, December 7, 2005

By 

C. Razzell "dsdreamer" (California, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mozart: Violin Concertos (Audio CD)

Julia Fischer doesn't just turn in an easy-listening Mozart; she gives us a rare and moving performance. The cadenzas will melt your soul as will the Adagio movement of Concerto #3 in G. The fact that she wrote 5 of the candenzas and augmented the 6th shows that she has stunning self confidence and poise. The same could be said for someone who records Bach's Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin at her young age. But I say if you've got the talent, flaunt it. And she has it in spades. If you take a listen to the three recordings she has out on Pentatone at the moment, (The present work, Bach's Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin, and Russian violin concertos by Aram Khachaturian, Serge Prokofiev and Alexander Glazunov) you will immediately perceive her extraordinary versitility in these widely different idioms, and the commitment and talent she brings to each of these (normally) duanting undertakings.

You will not regret this purchase. I certainly plan to buy anything with her name on it for some time to come.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime Mozart! Refreshing. Satisfying., October 14, 2007

By 

J. Lee - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mozart: Violin Concertos (Audio CD)

I must have been at the same Fischer concert as the previous reviewer who saw her perform Khatchaturian with the NSO at the Kennedy Center. Unlike the previous reviewer, I owned Fischer's Mozart concertos, Bach Partitas & Sonatas, and the Russian Concerto recordings before seeing her live.

This is a GEM of a recording, and I cannot praise it enough. I would give it 6 stars if I could! Fischer plays with perfect tonality and technical command. But more importantly, she plays with a sensitivity and understanding of what is required of Mozart. The vibrato is subtle and the bowing is dynamic and light. REFRESHING. The adagio from the G major concerto will melt your soul.

The sound engineering is superb! Buy both Mozart CD's. If you have to pick only one, pick this one (G major #3 and D major #4 concertos) I own complete Mozart Violin Concerto cycles by Szerying, Grumiaux, Mutter, Kremer, and Perlman. Fischer's is the most satisfying of them all.