Brahms Violin Concerto

[springrite]

WOW, that first movement must crawl along

Yes it is very slow. But somehow they made it work perfectly. I was surprised that it did. Frankly I did not expect to like it since some of my other favourites are very brisk!

[Drasko]

@Drasko: as you mention many older violin players ... no love for the ladies? Neveu, Martzy etc.?

Actually I have Morini/Rodzinski, forgot to list it, and I quite like it, but I have to be in the mood for it, if I'm not her tone can set my teeth on edge. De Vito I don't have but I have heard couple of them and she is almost tonal opposite of Morini, lovely dark viola like, easy on the ear, but she is consistently bit too leisurely for my taste. Martzy I don't know at all and Neveu I should probably get, I know many people who love her Brahms but the thing was I have had her equally lauded Sibelius for ages and it never really wowed me so I never proceeded in getting much further. Which of her Brahms concerto recordings is preferable?

[aligreto]

Yes it is very slow. But somehow they made it work perfectly. I was surprised that it did. Frankly I did not expect to like it since some of my other favourites are very brisk!

I understand what you mean by having a preference for those versions that are on the brisk side. It is therefore interesting that they made the Kennedy/Tennstedt version work.

[aligreto]

Actually I have Morini/Rodzinski, forgot to list it, and I quite like it, but I have to be in the mood for it, if I'm not her tone can set my teeth on edge. De Vito I don't have but I have heard couple of them and she is almost tonal opposite of Morini, lovely dark viola like, easy on the ear, but she is consistently bit too leisurely for my taste. Martzy I don't know at all and Neveu I should probably get, I know many people who love her Brahms but the thing was I have had her equally lauded Sibelius for ages and it never really wowed me so I never proceeded in getting much further. Which of her Brahms concerto recordings is preferable?

Having looked up the Neveu recordings last night I was also going to ask which of her Brahms Violin Concerto performances is the recommended one.

[king ubu]

I singled out the one with Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt. It has a burning intensity that really speaks to me. You can check it out online:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FM2_krep7U

in case flash fails (as so often): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FM2_krep7U

[Orpheus]

Did you listen to this recording? I find it fantastic indeed.



here the words of the pianist/arranger Dejan Lazic:

"I started working on this project in early 2003 and completed it in 2008. The violin was always a favourite love, and I continue to hold violinists in high esteem, realising just how wonderful their literature is. Thus far, I have been tremendously lucky to have had many an opportunity to perform with some wonderful colleagues. And it is with a degree of pride that I present – after Bach and Beethoven – the third "great B" in the present arrangement.

Subjectivity plays a role of course, and I have always found this particular concerto, along with Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto, to be amongst the best instrumental concertos ever written. Naturally, I felt the challenge to arrange the Brahms early on. I was intrigued by the idea of rendering it in an idiomatic version for piano and orchestra. The ultimate aim was clear: I wanted to perform it myself!

The desire to arrange a violin concerto as a piano concerto just because one envisages donning the garb of the soloist, is not a good enough motive to take on this challenge. But I also do not feel there is any other romantic violin concerto that would survive the transformation.
At a musicological level, the correspondence between Brahms and his dedicatee Joseph Joachim played a major role for me. After numerous changes, much good advice, and actual corrections by Joachim it remains quite clear that Brahms had always composed as a pianist (at the piano) and therefore felt this music as a pianist, if also as a symphonic composer (originally, Brahms wrote the Violin Concerto in four movements, which was typical for a symphony). It is quite obvious that the Violin Concerto had its roots in both friendship and practicality: his aim was to write a concerto for Joachim, from which we can infer the term concerto took on a greater significance than the violin itself. But we are skating on thin ice here, what I mean to say is that it is quite justified to speculate about what would have happened if Joachim had been a cellist or a clarinettist, or even... a pianist!"

[Drasko]

I singled out the one with Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt. It has a burning intensity that really speaks to me.

Thanks, ordered!

Here's pertinent thread from the old forum, the first few posts are worth reading (it gets derailed later):

http://www.good-music-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,12357.0.html

Does anyone knows what's happening these days with Harry Collier? He was very knowledgeable of all things violin.

[Ghost Sonata]

RE: Neveu, can thoroughly recommend the Dutton transfer of the orig. EMI recording with Dobrowen.  [asin]B00005B0GZ[/asin]   You can listen to it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0duhxWX0-As

[aligreto]

I singled out the one with Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt. It has a burning intensity that really speaks to me. You can check it out online:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FM2_krep7U

in case flash fails (as so often): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FM2_krep7U

Flash did fail but the link was good. I will get to that at a later stage. Thank you for posting it 

[aligreto]

Thanks, ordered!

Here's pertinent thread from the old forum, the first few posts are worth reading (it gets derailed later):

http://www.good-music-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,12357.0.html

Does anyone knows what's happening these days with Harry Collier? He was very knowledgeable of all things violin.

Good to have that linked here 

[aligreto]

RE: Neveu, can thoroughly recommend the Dutton transfer of the orig. EMI recording with Dobrowen.  [asin]B00005B0GZ[/asin]   You can listen to it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0duhxWX0-As

Thank you for posting that one. I will give  it a listen at a later stage also 

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I also like the Heifetz recording with Koussevitsky (ca 1940s)--very leisurely tempo, kind of somber and introspective, actually--well juxtaposed with Heifetz's very thoughtful and not overly virtuosic playing. Along with the Bruch cto (Sargent), the Brahms double cto (Feuermann, Ormandy) it is one of my favorite Heifetz concerto recordings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW7TJSYpBI8

[aligreto]

I also like the Heifetz recording with Koussevitsky (ca 1940s)--very leisurely tempo, kind of somber and introspective, actually--well juxtaposed with Heifetz's very thoughtful and not overly virtuosic playing. Along with the Bruch cto (Sargent), the Brahms double cto (Feuermann, Ormandy) it is one of my favorite Heifetz concerto recordings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW7TJSYpBI8

Thank you for that, especially the video link which I will watch later.

[Parsifal]

Thanks, ordered!

Here's pertinent thread from the old forum, the first few posts are worth reading (it gets derailed later):

http://www.good-music-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,12357.0.html

Does anyone knows what's happening these days with Harry Collier? He was very knowledgeable of all things violin.

Wow, no idea the old forum was still online. Is there a link to it somewhere on this site? I can't find it.

[Drasko]

Wow, no idea the old forum was still online. Is there a link to it somewhere on this site? I can't find it.

There is a thread in GMG News section of the forum and the link is in the opening post.

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,10856.0.html

[Heck148]

Heifetz/Reiner is my favorite -

also enjoy Szeryng/Monteux/LSO
and Szeryng/Dorati/LSO

[aligreto]

Heifetz/Reiner is my favorite -

also enjoy Szeryng/Monteux/LSO
and Szeryng/Dorati/LSO

All good choices. Personally I prefer the Szeryng/Monteux over the Szeryng/Dorati 

[Heck148]

All good choices. Personally I prefer the Szeryng/Monteux over the Szeryng/Dorati 

same here...but I like Heifetz/Reiner the best.

[Scion7]

" ... I also like the Heifetz recording with Koussevitsky (ca 1940s) ... "  -- it's a very fine performance, but, it's a mono recording of low fidelity - the NAXOS transfer did what it could do with the material, but Brahms is lost in the noise and sonic restrictions.  I can't take it for long.  His 1955 with Reiner on Living Stereo is a disaster IMO.  The fluidity - or sinewy technique - had stiffened up somewhat, and that cadenza ...... ugh.  Some critics have suggested a conflict of aims between soloist and conductor here - maybe it was subconscious - what we need is a time machine to bring 20's-something Heifetz into a 21st century recording studio with one of the great-era symphony orchestras and a conductor of outstanding empathy with Brahms ....
. . . .
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .  and use tasers upon their earlobes until we get the perfect performance/excellent fidelity!!!

you! - oboist! - do I have to use this on you AGAIN?!?!?!     

[Handelian]

Very important not to take Brahms too slowly else it seems like stodge. Recordings I have:



Jascha Heifetz, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky, 1939 (cadenza: Auer, arr. Heifetz)

Jascha Heifetz, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, 1955

Isaac Stern, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, 1959

David Oistrakh, Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, Otto Klemperer, 1960

All give pretty good accounts.