Customer Reviews

Schumann: Violin Concerto in D minor; Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor

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

 

 

I didn't even know that Schumann wrote a Violin Concerto until it appeared coupled with some other music on a used CD that I bought recently. Sadly, it was played by a violinist with a vibrato so wide that I couldn't tell what notes he was playing. But I could tell that the piece was a gem. So I looked on line for a recording by a violinist who I thought would be better suited to this music. Luckily Szeryng recorded it, and it is everything I hoped for.

I had the good fortune to hear Szeryng in person twice, playing Bach unaccompanied partitas and sonatas. I've never heard anyone play like that since. In my opinion his recordings of that music are as good as any of the more famous recordings, and better than most.

Anyway, back to the Schumann: detractors have said that the organic unfolding of this concerto is evidence of his final mental illness. I agree that the outer movements are difficult for both performer and listener. But the middle movement, marked Langsam, is a poetic utterance of the greatest inspiration, and worth the price of admission all by itself. What a tragedy that this concerto was withheld from publication by his friends, and unknown for so many years.

Szeryng's facility, natural phrasing and impeccable intonation are wonderful as always, but with this musician virtuosity alone is never the point. What's special is how unerringly he finds the spiritual center of the piece, and he never lets go.

Get this CD for the heart-rending middle movement of the Schumann and for the sparkling Bartok Rumanian Dances. I can't imagine anyone playing either piece more beautifully. Finally, if you need a recording of the Mendelssohn concerto, this one should more than satisfy you. And don't let the analog source deter you: the sound is very good.

Violinist Henryk Szeryng needs no introduction, many believe he recorded the best recordings of the solo Bach set. The tone on this CD is especially great as renowned violin collector Herbert Axlerod once said his violin is one of the best concert violins in the world, when I read that I ran out and bought all of his records. Szeryng has showed many times that he is one of the best violinists of the 20th century because of his impeccable intonation, timing, imaginative phrasing, and unique musical delivery of sound.

The Schumann violin concerto has a surprisingly unpopular history. His chamber works are so romantic and are among the finest in the entire repertoire. His wife Clara Wieck was a massive virtuoso pianist and of course he was good friends with the immortal Brahms. If any there is any proof needed of Schumann's genius just listen to his mind-boggling "Kreislerana" for solo piano. Schumann's music is so emotional and precious to me it's a shame what hapened to him.

This is an awesome recording of the Schumann Violin Concerto, I have heard recordings by Kremer, Bell, and Menuhin but none even come close to this performance for me. There is never a sense of hesitation or lack of technique, nor any lack of inspiration or feeling in the music. For me, this is an absolutely perfect CD, I can scarcely imagine a better recording. Perhaps in the hands of a different soloist, this concerto might be considered meaningless but every note Szeryng plays has meaning and he truly makes this concerto come alive.

The Mendelssohn is the same, flawless and full of emotion and no sense of hesitation or lack of technique. While I prefer Perlman's recording of the Mendelssohn slightly I recommend both to contrast each other and any other recording you may prefer.

This is my favorite CD that Mr. Szeryng recorded and one of my top 20 all time violin disks, if you do not have this you should get it for sure. I can recommend this disk totally without hesitation especially to people who have not heard this concerto and are getting sick to listening to other ones over and over.

Henryk Szerying made in my opinion, the most volcanic , mercurial and expressive reading of the Schumann's concerto. His phrasing and tune were unique. Antal Dorati contributed with his immense talent and musicality to lead this version tho the glorious Pantheon of the unequal performance of this work.
The Mendelssohn sounds OK but there are other superior versions. Szigetti, Stern, Heifetz, Gitlis and Rosand are the best exponents of this concert.

Of course this is one of the great violin CDs of all time. The sound alone, natural, clear, not overmiked, is worth it, and Szeryngs' tone is one of the purest and most beautiful ever. The caveat is a slightly less vigorous performance of the Mendelssohn than should have been, with a final movement that drags up until the final coda, which finally does take off. Ironically, the Schumann, the lesser work, is the star of this show, as so many other reviewers have pointed out. The encores are also worth their weight in gold.

Even though I have long loved the Schumann Violin Concerto, I never heard this performance till recently when I bought a cheap library copy of the CD online. Wow! When I began collecting lps some of these Mercury records were impossible to get because they were collected by what a friend always called the "Audio-fools." Collected for their putative special sound, and not for the music, allegedly. So I never heard it. And when this CD re-issue came out, I guess I didn't notice somehow, even though I love Szeryng. Well, I would love to know what the the back-story on this Schumann recording is. It seems in the past a lot of people thought the work was cursed with some sort of schizoid kooties on the husband of Clara's part. Maybe I am being fanciful, but I bet that as a compensation that idea influenced the performance here. For they seem to have gone out of their way to give a very measured and hieratic reading, and therefore sane, almost Baroque in its cadence. Indeed, in terms of the phrases resolving with trills it literally is almost made to sound a bit like Tartini. Of course, that mixed with Szeryng's exquisite tone of well-contained romantic flamboyance. Dorati seems to have really followed suit with the special reading, and the whole thing takes on a slightly ritualized edge. Well, that's maybe a different kind of crazy. Whatever the case, it is just the most delightful reading. I can't remember one remotely like it but for an Asian violinist on an lp specially pressed by the City of Bonn of the Beethovenhalle Orchester with a conductor named something like Volker Wanngeheim, or something like that. That one is also special.

Though Henryk Szeryng never achieved the fame accorded to many other 20th century violinists, he was equal or superior to them all in technical ability and unsurpassed in artistry. All of the performances on this CD are outstanding. If I'm not mistaken, Szeryng's recording of the Schumann concerto was the first ever made, as this concerto was unavailable for decades and only rediscovered in the 20th century. It still equals or surpasses any performance of this concerto subsequently recorded.

The four star rating refers to the uneven quality of some of the compositions; Szeryng's performances definitely rate five stars.