Customer Reviews

Prokofiev: Violin Sonatas / 5 Melodies - Gidon Kremer / Martha Argerich

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I own the Prok sonata 1/Oistrakh/Bauer with I find is much better than the Oistrakh/Richter. Ricter and Oistrakh are on 2 different planes, playing against each other.

I've owned the Oistrakh/Bauer for 20 yrs and felt nothing could surpass it. But I took a chance on this cd, and found Kremer to be as talented as he is on all his other recordings.

I can see some of John's complaints. But as thorny as Prok wrote these 2 sonatas, its a welcome to have such stunning playing from the masters Kremer and Argerich. Both meet Prokofiev on his terms, which require complete mastery of these instruments.

I actually prefer this recording now over the Oistrakh/Bauer in the 1st sonata.

I;ve also had/heard Oistrakh/Yampolsky in the 2nd sonata. As good as Oistrakh is, even David has a time making that opening movement in the 2nd 'work". The poetical line is sort of 'quirky". Again Kremer/Argerich make this story line work. Prokofiev was not "performer friendly", he took no regards for those who wished to play his works.

Highly recommended.

EDIT: I just listened to the oistrakh /Bauer which i felt was "as good as it gets" for the past 20 yrs.

But I find the Oistrakh/Bauer a bit clinical/academic at times.

Lets face it Prok wrote a real thorny score here, which requires alot of acrobatics from the performers. I find Kremer and Argerich to take an approach of individuality. That is they do not try to interpret the work in a "pure" approach, but actually add their own individual creativity.

They slow the tempos a bit and bring the work to a higher level of consciousness.

Which makes for a REAL experience.

Prokofiev is one of my favourite 20th century composers, and the instrumentalists here are favourites of mine as well. Those already familiar with the work of Kremer and Argerich will know not to expect bog-standard performances of anything they touch, and my perfectly sincere recommendation of these accounts of the Prokofiev violin sonatas needs to be qualified for newcomers to the works or to the composer with a warning that my liking for them is not universally shared. Sviatoslav Richter for one was apparently critical, but Richter himself, great artist as he is, is far from being my own idea of a safe and uncontroversial bet either.

There is a lyrical side to Prokofiev certainly, but he is not Tchaikovsky or Borodin either. His music usually has about it a certain astringent tone. This tone predominates in, say, his second symphony, which he characterised as being `of iron and steel'. The violin sonatas are nothing like such strong medicine, and the task of the performers is to convey some convincing balance between the two sides of his idiom. I found the English liner-note deplorably unhelpful. It consists largely of a load of pretentious waffle about `irony', but the worst thing about it is that there is actually a valid point submerged under cartloads of rodomontade. There quite definitely is an ironic feel to Prokofiev, and I catch it strongly from these performances. For me it's not done to excess, and although the violinist has a bow of steel and the piano-player fingers of adamant the music has easily enough strength and resilience to stand up to this approach, the players make no attempt to overwhelm it, and the lyricism peeps out very effectively too in much the way a delicate flavour can often be brought out by a strong sauce.

In addition to the two violin sonatas, the disc is filled out to 65 minutes by the welcome inclusion of the Five Melodies, originally from 1920 for a different ensemble and rescored for violin and piano in 1925. These are slighter works than the sonatas, but very good ones in my opinion. We find the same duality in the expression, but obviously it would not do to be over-emphatic in such miniatures, and so far as I can tell Kremer and Argerich show admirable tact without letting the music sag, which would do even less. In general I can quite understand how some music-lovers may find Kremer in particular a little too vivid for their taste but he suits me very well, and I think it's possible to overstate the extent to which these accounts can be thought controversial.

The recorded sound is excellent and thoughtfully engineered to suit these particular artists. As well as the English liner-note there are three others, in German, French and Italian and all by different authors. The French contribution is by Alain Poirier and it strikes me as admirable, certainly when fresh from enduring the English offering. It is written with typical French lucidity, it is thorough and it is workmanlike without making any ascents in the balloon.

I have no hesitation at all in recommending this disc. It is strongly characterised, but not in my own opinion perverse or exaggerated in any way. This is very much my own idea of Prokofiev, and I shall be very surprised if it doesn't find a good few other admirers too.

I have to admit , that when it comes to talking about Gidon Kremer , I just cannot remain impartial . The Prokofiev sonatas are pieces that I know very well and I probably get to hear snippets from practising colleagues on an almost daily basis , but these recordings hit the high note . Once again it's Kremer's sense of daring and charting of uinexplored emotional realms that win the prize . Just listen to the end of the first movement of the 1st track - the way he depicts the wind blowing through a graveyard - absolutely spellbinding!No one manages it like he does . He captures all the horror , crudeness and dissonance of this marvellous work with bravour and Argerich ,with her piano-busting power , certainly acts as the perfect foil . The D- major sonata is perhaps a little dry at times ,especially in the sweet first theme of the fírst movement , but Kremer is not interested in sentimentality , especially with a composer as laconic as Prokofiev .These sonatas belong in every collection and this version has the added attraction of the 5 melodies - works that are not given too much exposure .Yes , there are violinists with perhaps a fuller , more romantic sound , but very few who get to the bottom of a work an into the psyche of a composer . This duo , I believe , achieves all that and the added attraction of two musicians feeding off each others'creativity and nuance :one can just hear them smiling!

Kremer and Argerich are fabulous performers and give a very technically proficient rendition of these Prokofiev works. However, I really dislike Kremer's strident tone as well as his interpretation of the phrasing, especially in the first movement of the second sonata. The beautiful melodic lines are filled with overbearing accents and swells as well as too much give and take with their internal speeds.

I bristle each time I listen to it, but after a while, once I get used to Kremer's mannerisms, it's tolerable. Just.

It's taken me about four years and 20 listenings to figure out the very simple reason this CD really doesn't work for me. The musicians are too fussy. Prokofiev wrote very emotionally-direct music. The Violin Sonatas in particular are very "primitive," straight-on works. And these two--and especially Kremer--are all nuances and agogic accents and subtle color shifts. Through it all, Prokofiev's line, which is often strong, singing and direct, gets lost. It seems as if they're saying "Look at what virtuosos we are. Look at the command we have with our instruments." They say it every five bars, and it gets really old by the second movement of either sonata.

The first movement of the Second Sonata, for example, begins with a very simple songlike, almost "naive" line. Kremer does different fussy things with the articulation with every phrase, yet as a whole the phrases never add up, to my ears. It's as though he's heeping too much melodrama and poetry on a very simple, charming opening, so that when we return to the theme later, after the second theme is introduced, where the first theme *is* supposed to be grander, the contrast isn't there. Or take the third movement of the same sonata. Here the B theme is so saddled with technique it doesn't seem like a release. This theme has a salon-like, even "jazzy," quality. It has a deliciously improvisatory feel. If you can imagine Prokofiev after hours chillin,' this be it. ;-) Kremer and Argerich play it with such drama the contrast to the other movements is lost.

At least I'm not alone in my dissatisfaction. No one less than Sviatoslav Richter, said of Argerich and Kremer in these works: "I didn't like this at all. But it's hardly surprising, as these people go out on stage and play without any rehearsal; what can they expect? It's nothing less than scandalous (especially the violin). I can't begin to understand how people can adopt this approach to art." (Richter, Notebooks and Conversations, p 341 hardcover.)

Compare these performances to the likes of Richter/Oistrakh, or Oborin/Oistrakh, and you realize the latter is about the music, the former about violin technique. Everyone today seems so intent to show s/he has stunning control over their instrument. Yes, fine, but show me a revelation with phrasing, rhythm, or overall architecture and I will be far more impressed. These recordings are not essential, despiute a few fine moments here and there (the scherzo of No. 1 is particularly dramamtic. Another set to recommend highly--and in better sound than anything yet mentioned, is Wedny Chen/James Ehnes. I know these aren't marquee names. Don't let that influence you. They are far more interesting and technically better musicians than Argerich or Kremer. Don't take my word for it. Check it out.)