Franck Violin Sonata

[toledobass]

So which do you enjoy and why?  I plan on getting the Casadesus/Francescatti but I'd like to explore a few others as well.


Thanks,

Allan

[BorisG]

[Peregrine]

Richter/Oistrakh, 1968 (live)

[MichaelRabin]

For a fine CD in studio, Dancowska/Zimerman on DG.
For live, Heifetz/Smith on RCA is very exciting.

[val]

To me, Kremer and Maisenberg are the best, full of passion, contrasts, dynamic. They changed my perspective of this work, my favorite violin sonata.

Grumiaux with Sebok, in a more traditional perspective, come next.

[rubio]

From what I have read I understand the Chung/Lupu is a classic recording of this sonata. Has anybody had the chance to compare it to Richter/Oistrakh or Danczowska/Zimmerman (the only one I have)?

[dirkronk]

To me, Kremer and Maisenberg are the best, full of passion, contrasts, dynamic. They changed my perspective of this work, my favorite violin sonata.

Francescatti/Casadesus was the first duo to make me listen with rapt attention and fall in love with the piece; their version still satisfies on a very old but pristine LP, which I consider a treasure. And Richter/Oistrakh provide perhaps a more visceral experience, which I also love. These are the versions I know best, though my CD list tells me that I also have Perlman/Argerich live, Ferras/Barbizet, Dubois/Maas, Grimal/Pludermacher. And I can't even recall what other versions I have on LP. Maybe it's time for a spin-off!

Still, your obvious warm advocacy of Kremer/Maisenberg makes me VERY curious to hear their rendition, val.

Cheers,

Dirk

[M forever]

So which do you enjoy and why?  I plan on getting the Casadesus/Francescatti but I'd like to explore a few others as well.


Thanks,

Allan

Do you know the version with Eugene Levinson playing the sonata on the bass? That is very good, and also musically very well done, not just a "stunt". One of the few adapted bass solo pieces that I actually like to listen to once in a while.

[carlos]

Oistrakh-Oborin

[toledobass]

Do you know the version with Eugene Levinson playing the sonata on the bass? That is very good, and also musically very well done, not just a "stunt". One of the few adapted bass solo pieces that I actually like to listen to once in a while.

M,

I do.  It remains one of my favorite bass recordings.  To think it was recorded when that kind of technical ability was not so common marks it as a remarkable achievment in my mind.  I particularly love his way with shifts.  So relaxed, perfectly placed and "unbass like".

Allan

[M forever]

I hate him for how good the playing is 

Very true about the shifts, a lot of people don't realize that a relatively slow, relaxed shift which goes smoothly and precisely from one pitch to the next is often more effective than a fast, hectic one. The trick is too really hit the note spot on, not somewhere above or below and then correct, and just take the time needed to shift there - but of course, it shouldn't be too slow and "smeared". I spent a lot of time when I was a student just practicing shifts really, really, really slowly, in slow motion, so to speak. It is very interesting to see how difficult it actually is to execute a lot of shifts really smoothly and steadily in slomo - and obviously that's why it is so much harder to do that faster then. I found that taking the time to practice these shifts so that the motion is very smooth and regular and you just slide from one note to the next, but make sure you hit it directly in the middle without slowing down or "looking" for the note, that that really helps a lot with intonation - and it also makes the sound better because there are no "holes" or "smears" in the sound.

BTW, apart from the fact that the playing as such is just on an extremely high level, I don't think it's so unusual for the time (was that in the 80s?) - there have been a lot of bass players around who played some technically very advanced stuff for several decades (maybe not as many as today, though).

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Ah, but if you have not heard Ossy Renardy / Eugene List on the old Remington LP, you are truly missing the greatest! This rec. is known to reduce people to tears!

[carlos]

I prefer Otto Reiss version

[dirkronk]

Ah, but if you have not heard Ossy Renardy / Eugene List on the old Remington LP, you are truly missing the greatest! This rec. is known to reduce people to tears!

I don't know if it's the greatest, but it is certainly extroardinarily good. I do have a copy, in very good condition, and consider it as much a treasure as my early vinyl Francescatti/Casadesus. Perhaps more, since Remingtons in playable shape are far rarer in my experience than clean early US Columbia LPs.

I remember reading something a few years back about a project to transfer old Remington recordings to CD, but never heard anything since...and the only performances I recall seeing on CD that derived from that label were the Barere Carnegie Hall items on APR and (from Remington's Continental offshoot) the set of Bach sonatas & partitas performed by Enescu, which has been put out by a couple of cheapo CD labels over the years. There are a number of items that would be welcome by listeners who never had a chance to hear those records--other discs by Renardy, Spalding, Enescu, early Bolet w/ Thor Johnson, et al. Of course, there's also a great deal of mediocre stuff on the label, as well.

Sorry. Just rambling now...

Dirk

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I don't know if it's the greatest, but it is certainly extroardinarily good. I do have a copy, in very good condition, and consider it as much a treasure as my early vinyl Francescatti/Casadesus. Perhaps more, since Remingtons in playable shape are far rarer in my experience than clean early US Columbia LPs.

I remember reading something a few years back about a project to transfer old Remington recordings to CD, but never heard anything since...and the only performances I recall seeing on CD that derived from that label were the Barere Carnegie Hall items on APR and (from Remington's Continental offshoot) the set of Bach sonatas & partitas performed by Enescu, which has been put out by a couple of cheapo CD labels over the years. There are a number of items that would be welcome by listeners who never had a chance to hear those records--other discs by Renardy, Spalding, Enescu, early Bolet w/ Thor Johnson, et al. Of course, there's also a great deal of mediocre stuff on the label, as well.

Sorry. Just rambling now...

Dirk

Not rambling at all; it's very true. I own a few of the obscure Remingtons (Renardy, Spalding, Bartok, and even a 45 rpm with Sarah Vaughan, Leonard Feather and Diz!) in near mint condition and have transferred them to CD for my own enjoyment. From what I understand, the master tapes for many if not all of these recordings were destroyed and all that remains are the LPs in private collections. I've often wondered about the feasibility of having these released commercially on CD.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I prefer Otto Reiss version

What label was that on? When was it recorded?

[carlos]

Sorry; it's the Alzheimer. I mean Oskar Reiss.