Customer Reviews

Mozart: Violin Concertos

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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.

In March I heard Julia Fischer playing Khachaturian's violin concerto at a concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. She is such a wonderful violinist that soon after I got home I checked what other performance of hers would be available from Amazon. When I saw this CD I promptly ordered it. I was not disappointed: She plays these concertos better than anyone I ever heard. She combines deep feeling with perfect virtuosity in this performance. I recommend this CD to everybody who likes Mozart or violin!

I do not claim to be an expert in classical music but I do enjoy listening to good classical music often. This recording of Mozart Violin Concertos is one that I have enjoyed listening too over and over. I would not hesitate recommending it to anyone who enjoys classical music that highlights the romantic violin.

SEVEN STARS******* for the woman who releases a new CD almost every two months!

Right during "Mozart Year" 2006 a recording of Mozart works for violin - of all of his violin concertos on two CDs - was released by this very young and already fully established 1. Class Violinist. The release of these concertos of this tremendous quality shows or reveals JULIA FISCHER completely naturally and self-confident, and she proves to be a virtuoso, whose place is in the "thin air" of the violinistical "first league", who stands not only right by the side of but ahead of other well-established and outstanding violinists, and beyond that she belongs to the BEST OF THE VERY BEST VIOLINISTS THROUGHOUT THE WOLRD!

Julia Fischer plays her violin highly accurately and her intonation is completely clean (just as we have become accustomed to!) and she always produces a rather slightly and elegantly formed vibrato than to make it to pulsate extremely excessively; she is so certain about what she does when she is playing her violin and, to our great delight, she avoides "colouring" each note excessively and to form them in an overemphasised expressiveness and intensity, and this way she avoids unnecessary vibrato in general. HER ACOUSTIC "COLOURS" are discreet and VERY SPLENDID and of MUCH BRIGHTNESS as well as EXPRESSIVNESS, and they are much right to the point in each phrasing; JULIA FISCHER's TECHNICAL CONTROL and INTERPRETATION of THESE PIECES, as well as of PIECES BY OTHER COMPOSERS, are so PURE and HIGHLY PERFECT! This makes JULIA a TRUE and VERY FINE YOUNG MASTRESS OF the VIOLIN! This is a GRAND PLUS FOR HER, and her TECHNICAL CONTROL and INTERPRETATION of pieces for violin is GENERALLY TRUE FOR this WONDERFUL YOUNG VIOLINIST JULIA FISCHER. This is one more reason to ADMIRE HER SO MUCH!

There is one more ability, which makes me appreciate her and which makes JULIA even more admirable for me, that is the fact that SHE w r o t e / c o m p o s e d HER O W N and very beautifully created cadenzas for the five of Mozart's violin concertos - even at this very young age SHE "CADENCES" HERSELF! JULIA, I BOW FOR YOU for this! This way you I N S P I R E N E W L I F E INTO MOZART's violin works - and in particular into those "antiquated" (fusty!) old cadenzas which can be heard thousands of times from numerous other recordings of the same pieces... and which, therefore, have become known to everyone well enough and which we have so by now become a bit "tired" of (bored with!)..... (I do not mind those "old" cadenzas when they are performed/played by other virtuosos with much heart and soul as well as with much technical competence - but a few NEW, "REFRESHING" CADENZAS every now and then would be VERY WELL INTRODUCED into VIOLIN LITERATURE and SERVE us with a FRESH BREEZE of NEW MUSICALITY! THIS BREEZE now brings us to our great delight --- thanks to her musical capability and skills as well as thanks to her CLEAR and WELL-DEFINED UNDERSTANDING of MUSICAL CONTEXTS and thanks to the extraordinary and superior control of her instrument --- JULIA FISCHER!). Julia shows us that CLASSICAL MUSIC NOT ONLY lives from NEW INTERPRETATIONS or ideas, which refer to these, made by virtuosos, BUT can be VITALISED also BY INTRODUCING IDEAS OF COMPOSITION which are MADE BY CADENZAS CREATED BY VIRTUOSOS THEMSELVES!

Another, a third reason to name these recordings by Julia Fischer (one of) my absolutely favourite recordings is that somebody had the courage - much in Bach and Vivaldi style! - to use a HARPSICHORD AS ACCOMPANIMENT for the orchestral background. MOZART would be MUCH CHARMED and DELIGHTED about this really great accompaniment of his first two violin concertos, both of which were recorded with harpsichord accompaniment, through which these get a FRESH BREEZE of NEW MUSICALITY. This NEW FRESH BREEZE, in some passages, reminds me of Bach's and Vivaldi's violin concertos (maybe it reminds me a bit of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons"); the harpsichord in the orchestral background kind of slightly and discreetly eases the musical structure of these pieces. And Julia Fischer does not "seize" these concertos but plays as a perfectly matched partner of the orchestra and the conductor Yakov Kreizberg (who seems to be her preferred conductor)! JULIA, that's BEAUTIFUL! ASTONISHING!!!

So, the FRESHNESS and LIVELINESS OF THESE NEW RECORDINGS of the MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTOS REMIND me very strongly of JULIA FISCHER's SUPERB RECORDING of "THE FOUR SEASONS" which she made a view years ago and which was released on DVD; both her recordings of Vivaldi as well as of Mozart are for the same reasons HIGHLY REMARKABLE as well as RECOMMENDABLE, in particular, since there are also thousands of recordings of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" whose interpretations are, as I see it, "antiquated" (fusty!) and by which one gets bored or feels tired from. So, some years ago, JULIA FISCHER succeeded also in BREEZING NEW and FRESH MUSICALITY into ANTONIO VIVALDI's "THE FOUR SEASONS"! Among many other recordings by Julia Fischer, there is one particular recording by her which I would like to mention on this occasion and which can be heard in the same high quality only rarely from other violin virtuosos in a comparable quality. It is the recording of the RUSSIAN VIOLIN CONCERTO by ARAM KHACHATURIAN which belongs to my personal favourites made by Julia (and certainly it belongs to Julia's favourite concertos), because it brings so much warmth and musical depth into with the beautifulness of her violin play. And also some years ago, again really early in her career, she recorded the BACH SOLO SONATAS and PARTITAS as TERRIFICALLY as BRILLIANTLY - I BOW TO YOU AGAIN!! So much bowing...

Not only because of JULIA FISCHER's OUTSTANDING VIOLIN PLAY but also because of the use of the HARPSICHORD AS ACCOMPANIMENT of the FIRST TWO of MOZART's VIOLIN CONCERTOS --- and F I R S T O F A L L because of the CADENZAS W R I T T E N AND C R E A T E D BY JULIA FISCHER H E R S E L F ! --- I would (if possible!) give AT LEAST SEVEN or MORE STARS for these REFERENCIAL RECORDINGS! ALWAYS KEEP GOING JULIA!! And PLEASE ALSO KEEP COMPOSING FURTHER CADENZAS, please also for those concertos by other composers!

What makes SACD with music is to 1.improve great details or 2. Make mistakes sound even worse. In this ocation the first exception makes the rule. Later cadenzas give something different and at the same time, peerless jewels to enjoy in this immortal pieces.