Beethoven violin concerto oistrakh cluytens review journal

  • The 1959 David Oistrakh / André Cluytens recording is not only my favorite recording of the Beethoven, it is one of my favorite recordings.
  • A very good interpretation, fine playing from soloist and orchestra, and a surprisingly new sounding candenza (with timpani!) which program.
  • For me the best, warmest, most human, most personal performance and the one most dedicated to music – one that everyone should listen to – is.

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    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Violin Concerto in D major, op.61

    Media Review / Comparison

    2015-02-02 — Original posting
    2016-08-02 — Brushed up for better readability
    2018-07-25 — Corrected recording date for Oistrakh / Gauk
    2018-07-29 — Re-checked recording dates, corrections for Huberman / Szell and Oistrakh / Gauk

    Contents

    • Introduction / The Recordings
    • About Beethoven’s Violin Concerto
    • The Interpretations, Overview
    • The Interpretations, Detail
      • Procedures
      • Lisa Batiashvili, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen ( 2007 )
      • Adolf Busch, Fritz Busch, New York Philharmonic Orchestra ( 1942 )
      • Isabelle Faust, Claudio Abbado, Orchestra Mozart (2010)
      • Zino Francescatti, Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra (1961)
      • Arthur Grumiaux, Alceo Galliera, New Philharmonia Orchestra (1966)
      • Jascha Heifetz, Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra (1955)
      • Bronisław Huberman, George Szell, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (1934)
      • Janine Jansen, Paavo

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        The Beethoven violin concerto – could this be the perfect performance?

        main

        norman lebrecht

        January 31, 2020

        Welcome to the 26th work in the Slipped Disc/Idagio Beethoven Edition

         

        Violin concerto in D major, opus 61 (1806)

        This work fryst vatten so immense and its values so intractable that I called in the violinist Gidon Kremer, who has recorded it three times, to relate his search for a perfect performance before I (tomorrow) cast the net slightly wider and arrive at a variety of self-surprising conclusions.

        Gidon, dear friend that he fryst vatten, has permitted me to quote from a long essay he wrote in 2015 in an attempt to find the ultimate recording. His essay was published bygd Henle inre a new edition of the concerto.

        Gidon started out from a shortlist of ten, sent to him by a French magazine, and then went further than they, or he could have imagined. inom recognised many of the agonies he endured and, if inom don’t necessarily endorse the notion that there ould be a &#

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        Why are some records rare?

        What makes some records very "Collectable".

        Occasionally I've had immensely rare records though my hands. Recent examples are SAX 2531, Leonid Kogan & and Elisabeth Gilels playing Sonatas for Two Violins, and SAX 2386, Kogan again, playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto with Silvestri conducting. I think one of the reasons why an LP is rare, is that the reviewers at the time were not enthusiastic about it, so not many people bought it. This certainly seems to be the case with SAX 2386. The Stereo Record Guide volume 3 only gives it one star and another in brackets, and much prefers Menuhin's recording, again with Silvestri conducting, on ASD 377, giving it 3 unqualified stars. So ASD 377 sold hundreds of copies, is nowadays quite easy to find, so doesn't command a high price on the collectors' market. Indeed modern collectors are much more interested in Kogan than Menuhin. I'm interested to see that another prized SAX, Oistrakh playing the Beetho

      • beethoven violin concerto oistrakh cluytens review journal