Customer Reviews

Stravinsky: Violin Concerto / Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2

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

 

 

I let the original issue of this CD slip away, so it's good to see it reissued on a budget label (Elatus), although you may have to go to a British website to find it. Perlman is recorded kissing the mircophone, but his playing is so committed and involving that the close-up perspective works. Barenboim is in good form, too, and the CSO shows real interest in the orchestral parts.

Perlman has always been good at Prokofiev -- he's recorded the composer's concertos and sonatas more than once before -- so this version of the Concerto #2 is mostly attractive as an update. To tell the truth, he showed more liveliness when he was younger, but this rendition is unusual for the romantic sweetness imparted by Barenboim; I like more acid in the mix myself.

The five stars mainly go to the Stravinsky concerto, the highlight of this disc. Perlman can be everyday in his playing, but here he's paying full attention and provides lots of quirky phrasing. His tone is romantic, not the dry, acerbic style Stravinsky calls for, and yet with the CSO woodwinds adding sharp solos in the background, the whole thing comes off very well. In all, this is about the best CD I've heard from Perlman in many a year.

These are two live recordings, made in May 1993 (Prokofiev) and September 1994 (Stravinsky). The Prokofiev has had a previous publication, by Erato, paired then with Mendelssohn's (Mendelssohn/Prokofiev: Violin Concertos). The new release was made by Teldec (which by then had gobbled up Erato) in 1997 and the coupling is much more coherent and, hence, attractive.

BUT. Someone at Teldec must have thought they were still in the LP era. With a scanty TT of 46:24, the disc would have to be exceptionally cheap and/or the interpretations exceptionally good to warrant purchase.

As for price, the disc's recent reissue in Warner's "Maestro" budget series goes one step in that direction (Stravinsky: Violin Concerto; Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2). Furthermore, as I write the original release can be found on the marketplace for very cheap anyway. But, as far as the interpretations are concerned, "exceptionnaly good" they are not. They are simply "good": nobody will be cheated or given a misrepresented view of the compositions if they have only this CD in their collection , but they are not equal to the best recordings of both concertos.

One of the things lacking in Stravinsky's to make it one in the shortlist of best performances, whose "classics" include Stravinsky's own stereo remake with Isaac Stern (Stravinsky: Concertos), Oistrakh-Haitink (Mozart Violin Concerto 1 / Stravinsky Violin Concerto - Oistrakh, Haitink), Grumiaux-Bour (Berg / Stravinsky: Violin Concerto - Grumiaux, Markevitch, Bour) and Chung-Previn (Prokofiev: Violin Concertos 1 & 2; Stravinsky: Violin Concerto), is a touch of added orchestral presence and bite - an indispensable feature in this composition so modelled after the baroque concerto grosso in which the orchestra is not just mere accompaniment but a constant dialoguing partner. Perlman's studio recording with Ozawa must still remain first choice for the admirers of the artist.

In Prokofiev - Perlman's third recording of a work with which he obviously has a special affinity, as it was, with Sibelius's, his first published recording back in 1967, with Leinsdorf and the Boston Symphony, now reissued on Sergei Prokofiev:Sonatas for Violin/Concerto No. 2 - again the Chicagoans, compared to the Bostonians, lack some bite and vivid presence. Without being swift Perlman's second movement is the most animated and passionate of his three versions (and the slight impression of frailty of tone apparent at the start of the movement, soon dispelled, is due no doubt to the live conditions of the recording) and he even adds a (welcome) degree of extra bite in the finale, taking it now faster even then Heifetz. It is his approach of the first movement, now as earlier, that I find somewhat flawed: It is not just the fact that Perlman doesn't quite observe Prokofiev's tempo and metronome indications, but that, by exaggerating the contrasts between slow (which he takes significantly slower than the indicated metronome marks) and fast (which he plays with sudden and almost brutal shifts of tempo - try the "poco più mosso" at 1:55, which Perlman takes VERY più mosso), he makes the music sound like a piecing together of of contrasting sections rather than an organic unfolding. His slow approach to the slow sections also unduly sentimentalises the music, I find. You just need to go back to Heifetz (Heifetz Plays Strauss (Violin Sonata op. 18), Sibelius (Violin Concerto), Prokofiev (Violin Concerto 2)) and Oistrakh (Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Violin Sonata No. 2) to hear how more organically it unfolds when either the initial tempo is more forward-moving (with Heifetz it sounds not as a lament but as a march) and/or the contrasts of tempo not so exaggerated (Oistrakh for instance certainly doesn't rush in the opening melody, but then his ensuing "piu mosso" is indeed "poco" - not as showy, perhaps, but ultimately more musical).

Ultimately then, despite some nice touches in the new reading I'd rather favor Perlman's first two recordings, if only because they feature more coherent couplings (the second with Rozhdestvenski also has the violinist's only recording of the first Concerto, see Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Sonata for Two Violins). The present disc is really for the diehard Perlman admirers who insist on having everything from their idol.

See my review of the budget reissue for more details.

superb violin playing on the part of Perlman both in technique and interpretation, as is always the case. excellent CD. I highly reccomend it.