Krystian Zimerman is a monster.

[Sergeant Rock]

Perlman also has the smarts to go with it.  Compare his work to A-S Mutter's, for instance, and there's little to knock.  His Beethoven Sonatas beat hers to hell and his tone beats Kremer's by a long shot.

Sigh...more Mutter bashing. This forum loves to do that. Mutter is a serious MUSICIAN. She and Orkis spent an entire year of their lives playing nothing but the Beethoven sonatas. Perlman went into the studio and knocked them out, got his paycheck and went on to something else.

Mutter and Orkis are an incredible team, a tight team, who've worked together for years. They gave us interpertations that are entirely new. No one has to like what they did, but really, they certainly deserve respect for their individuality and fresh insight in Beethoven.

Sarge

[Robert]

Sigh...more Mutter bashing. This forum loves to do that. Mutter is a serious MUSICIAN. She and Orkis spent an entire year of their lives playing nothing but the Beethoven sonatas. Perlman went into the studio and knocked them out, got his paycheck and went on to something else.

Mutter and Orkis are an incredible team, a tight team, who've worked together for years. They gave us interpertations that are entirely new. No one has to like what they did, but really, they certainly deserve respect for their individuality and fresh insight in Beethoven.

Sarge

Im with you on this Sarge. To me Perlman is history.....

[Bunny]

So what? I am Malaysian Chinese and if I believe that a musician is crappy, I say so. Read my review of his Tch PC 1 below:-
http://www.musicandcdreview.com/Phila-Eschen.htm

thanks for posting the link to the review. 

[Bunny]

Sigh...more Mutter bashing. This forum loves to do that. Mutter is a serious MUSICIAN. She and Orkis spent an entire year of their lives playing nothing but the Beethoven sonatas. Perlman went into the studio and knocked them out, got his paycheck and went on to something else.

Mutter and Orkis are an incredible team, a tight team, who've worked together for years. They gave us interpertations that are entirely new. No one has to like what they did, but really, they certainly deserve respect for their individuality and fresh insight in Beethoven.

Sarge

Sorry Sarge, but those Beethoven sonatas are execrable!  Her early recording of the Beethoven trios with Rostropovich and Giuranna is sparkling, her Berg irreproachable, but those sonatas with Orkis are embarrassingly awful.  Her recent Mozart recordings (Concerti and piano trios) aren't to my taste, but they are also well done.  Perlman's sonatas with Ashkenazy are much, much better.

[Bonehelm]

Sorry for the argument guys, I started it.

OK: so if you like zimmerman, good for you. if you like lang lang, good for you. if you like perlman, good for you. if you like volodos, good for you. No one can change the personal status you have them in your heart.

All happy now? 

[Josquin des Prez]

Sigh...more Mutter bashing. This forum loves to do that. Mutter is a serious MUSICIAN.

Mutter is a joke. See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_y76vjSKAM

Anybody who dares butcher the Kreutzer like that doesn't have any business being called a 'serious musician'.

[Josquin des Prez]

All happy now? 

Nope. Your relativism disgusts me.   

[mahlertitan]

So what? I am Malaysian Chinese and if I believe that a musician is crappy, I say so. Read my review of his Tch PC 1 below:-
http://www.musicandcdreview.com/Phila-Eschen.htm

so, i still think lang lang is overrated.

[Josquin des Prez]

Sorry Sarge, but those Beethoven sonatas are execrable!  Her early recording of the Beethoven trios with Rostropovich and Giuranna is sparkling, her Berg irreproachable, but those sonatas with Orkis are embarrassingly awful.  Her recent Mozart recordings (Concerti and piano trios) aren't to my taste, but they are also well done.  Perlman's sonatas with Ashkenazy are much, much better.

You display excellent taste, as always. Well said.

[Bonehelm]

Nope. Your relativism disgusts me.   

Don't even start with the personal attacks. This is a civilized forum.

[Josquin des Prez]

Don't even start with the personal attacks. This is a civilized forum.

There's no such thing as a civilized forum. We are all savages. 

[Steve]

Sorry Sarge, but those Beethoven sonatas are execrable!  Her early recording of the Beethoven trios with Rostropovich and Giuranna is sparkling, her Berg irreproachable, but those sonatas with Orkis are embarrassingly awful.  Her recent Mozart recordings (Concerti and piano trios) aren't to my taste, but they are also well done.  Perlman's sonatas with Ashkenazy are much, much better.

I'd agree with your assessment, Bunny. Perlman has produced superior work.

[mahlertitan]

There's no such thing as a civilized forum. We are all savages. 

nah-uh, i'm way more civilized than you are.

[Bonehelm]

There's no such thing as a civilized forum. We are all savages. 

Let's cut the nonsense and stay on topic now. Sorry everbody.

[Josquin des Prez]

Yes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebXQyOTfC20

[Bogey]

Im with you on this Sarge. To me Perlman is history.....

No, no, no Robert....we still need him for the occasional movie score by John Williams, White House concerts, Kennedy Honors stuff,.............and for Heaven's sake, what would the Academy Awards show be without Perlman.....especially if Ma is booked!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Don't even start with the personal attacks. This is a civilized forum.

You call this uncivilized?

You must be new to GMG...

[Poetdante]

I feel that he is a monster when I listen....

his Debussy "Preludes" recording.

He looks like a demon of extreme accuracy.

[Bunny]

Mutter is a joke. See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_y76vjSKAM

Anybody who dares butcher the Kreutzer like that doesn't have any business being called a 'serious musician'.

I think the problem is that she's become a too serious musician, not that she's not serious enough.  Everything in this interpretation is so overthought, so calculatedly overwrought that one begins to wonder just when Ms. Mutter began to find Beethoven boring.  There's not an ounce of spontaneity, nor chemistry between the two musicians.  While they are clearly playing the same music together, they aren't "making beautiful music," which is a pity because the Kreutzer is an extremely seductive work.  It's really a pity because if they had just started playing without rehearsal and study I'll bet that a livelier, more playful recording would have resulted.  I kept looking at that straightened hair, overly tight dress and wished for the young girl with the bouncy, uncontrolled curls who just loved making music as opposed to the mature, extremely controlled woman who is so wary that every gesture looks rehearsed and planned.

There are points where the sound is really quite lovely; both Mutter and Orkis really know how to produce a beautiful tone.  But with Mutter's insistance on little of no vibrato when the pitch climbs and the volume decreases, the only way I can describe the sound is "sick kitten."  I love the sound of a violin without vibrato, but I've come to realize that it doesn't work with steel strings.  That wonderful, oily sound that flows thickly like honey comes not only from technique but also from the gut string.  Anyone who's ever picked up a steel string guitar and a nylon or gut string guitar knows that the two materials are never going to produce sounds with the same qualities, and a different technique is necessary with the two materials. 

I can't begin to get into the strange rhythmic choices which when coupled with the dynamics produce a "wax on wax off" effect.  There's just no tension or forward propulsion, just buildup and letdown, buildup and letdown, buildup and letdown...  It's even sadder than I remember it.