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Classical Violin Concertos

post #1 of 53
3/7/09 at 10:10pm
Thread Starter 
In an effort to stimulate more classical music discussion please feel free to post any great violin concerto Cds or collections you have discovered.......

A timely thread since I have been making many purchases in this catagory recently




Brilliant label has great Oistrakh 10CD collection from his prime early Russian recording days 1940s-1960s mono and stereo conducted by Rozhdestvensky, Kondrashin, Mravinsky and Sanderling........this is great stuff and if you have any interest at all in Oistrakh you must buy this, very cheap at Amazon @$39 new from UK seller. Has all the popular warhorse concertos plus a few surprises like Miaskovsky, Szymanowski, Taneyev concertos

Sound is usually very good, however as is typical with Russian recording style the violin sometimes is too prominent or spotlighted compared to ideal modern balance. These older performances are generally preferred to his later stereo versions with EMI and DG which before this collection surfaced were some of the best available, packaging and booklet for Brilliant boxset are spartan as usual but the music here is priceless

Tyson this has your name on it!
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post #2 of 53
3/8/09 at 12:22am
Some of my favorite violinists plus a recording of theirs i think is great.


Mutter


Perlman


Hahn


Grumiaux


Heifetz


Mullova


Shaham


Ricci


Stern


Kremer


Chung


Manze


Schneiderhan


Fischer


Oistrakh


Chang


Bell
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post #3 of 53
3/8/09 at 11:53am
Thread Starter 
Great list there..............I have many of those!
Some random comments, feel free to add to these

Mutter
I have that Mozart set and enjoy it as a modern style alternative to my more preferred HIP variants (along with Grumiaux/Phillips Duo and Menuhin/Bath/RCA)
I think as she matured she has really excelled at modern composers and these sell for great premiums at Amazon...........did not like her Vivaldi
(find it bizarre that she is married to Previn, reminds me of Celine Dion marriage)

Perlman
I am a big fan in general of his romantic and later works, not so much his classical, baroque performances.......very sweet soulful sound that I quite like for some composers

Hahn
Not spectacular but very good all around performances with pure tones, I have almost all her Cds since yourmusic.com sells many of them cheap

Grumiaux
His Mozart violin concertos are perhaps the best modern instrument versions on Phillips Duo

Heifetz
I purchased all 4 of his new remastered hybrid RCA discs for the sound upgrade, dazzling technique and pyrotechnics with stellar conductor/orchestras, but perhaps does not dig deep into the soul of a work like Perlman, Oistrakh etc........I may have to explore some of his historical mono performances

to be continued..........
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post #4 of 53
3/8/09 at 1:01pm
Thread Starter 
Mullova
I have that wonderful CD you show, her back catalog until just recently was expensive and hard to find........but many previous Phillips label performances have been repackaged at lower price, waiting for this 2CD set to arrive:




Update
Just found out from music wiki research that Anne Sophie has just recently divorced Previn (2nd marriage).........
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post #5 of 53
3/8/09 at 2:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkAngel View Post
Mullova

Update
Just found out from music wiki research that Anne Sophie has just recently divorced Previn (2nd marriage).........
He's ill and apparently she didn't want the fun of nursing a second much older husband through cancer.

AS Mutter's new Gubaidalina recording should be available at the BMG music stores any day now. I'll bet it shows up before June. I say Gubaidulina rather than Bach because I'm not very thrilled with any of her pre-romantic period recordings made in the last 15 years. The Mozart was better than expected, but I still consider it more of an alternative version. With all of the modern Bach violin concerti that I have on the shelf, that's the disposable element of her new recording.



For newer modern instrument Bach, I would rather stick with my Akiko Suwanai recording (also available as mp3 from Amazon) or the new Julia Fischer release.

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post #6 of 53
3/8/09 at 2:42pm
Here are some of my favorite violin concerto recordings. I am only listing modern and/or easily available recordings. I am not listing historic recordings by most legendary violinists such as Grumiaux, Oistrakh, Menuhin, et al., because of my preference to listening to recordings with a certain minimum level of sound quality as well as because the older recordings tend to get very, very, pricey nowadays:

Berg: A-S Mutter; Daniel Hope; Leonidas Kavakos

Tchaikovsky:: Heifetz (the master), Vadim Repin (with Gergiev. Recording includes Myaskowsky V/C as well).


JS Bach: Sigiswald Kuijken and Le Petite Bande (No. 1 of all, HIP or Modern); Mullova; Then Isaac Stern (Itzhak Perlman for double concerto); Suwanai; Fischer.

Sibelius: Heifetz; Hilary Hahn! Her new album with the Schoenberg V/C is tops.

Schoenberg: Hilary Hahn

Beethoven: Vera Beths (the exception -- this one is oop and hard to find); Christian Tetzlaff; Mutter/Karajan (yes Mutter, but only when she was very, very young); Josef Suk

Mozart: Guiliano Carmignola; Fabio Biondi; Andrew Manze

Prokofiev: Vengerov

Shostakovich: Vengerov

Vivaldi: Carmignola; Mullova; Biondi

CPS Bach: Manze
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post #7 of 53
3/8/09 at 2:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkAngel View Post
Great list there..............I have many of those!
Some random comments, feel free to add to these

[snip]

Heifetz
I purchased all 4 of his new remastered hybrid RCA discs for the sound upgrade, dazzling technique and pyrotechnics with stellar conductor/orchestras, but perhaps does not dig deep into the soul of a work like Perlman, Oistrakh etc........I may have to explore some of his historical mono performances

to be continued..........
One of the reasons I loved Heifetz is that despite the fact that almost everyone had adopted steel strings for their violins, Heifetz insisted on using gut. It gave his music a characteristic timbre as well as keeping his violin sound "smaller" than other virtuosi of the same period. You either love the sound or hate it.
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post #8 of 53
3/8/09 at 3:02pm
Thread Starter 
Bunny
I have been watching Suwanai but her Cds are so expensive even used that I have been holding back making purchase...........are they worth the price

Prokofiev: Vengerov
Shostakovich: Vengerov
I also made these purchases on Teldec label since they are nicely captured on 2 Cds, hard to not buy both:




JS Bach: Sigiswald Kuijken and Le Petite Bande
Agree 100%, I have had this CD for 10+ years in my collection and nothing has topped it yet......very expensive to get used now since it has a great demand

I may have to check out that Vadim Repin/Gergiev Tchaikovsky VC you mention
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post #9 of 53
3/9/09 at 11:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkAngel View Post
Bunny
I have been watching Suwanai but her Cds are so expensive even used that I have been holding back making purchase...........are they worth the price

Prokofiev: Vengerov
Shostakovich: Vengerov
I also made these purchases on Teldec label since they are nicely captured on 2 Cds, hard to not buy both:




JS Bach: Sigiswald Kuijken and Le Petite Bande
Agree 100%, I have had this CD for 10+ years in my collection and nothing has topped it yet......very expensive to get used now since it has a great demand

I may have to check out that Vadim Repin/Gergiev Tchaikovsky VC you mention
The Suwanai is certainly not worth the price they are asking for the cd in an economy like this! The price is artificially high as it's a Japanese import. If the yen falls to reasonable levels, then by all means acquire it. However, if you can tolerate the idea of buying it as compressed music files it is more reasonable.

A better bet in this economy is the new Julia Fischer Bach Concertos made with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. They are both well made and feature a young, versatile violinist who isn't bored with Bach leading modern instrument chamber sized orchestras. When I saw Hahn's album, I wondered if the same studio minds were behind both albums as they are both from companies of the Universal-Polygram Music Group (Philips -- now Universal Japan; and Decca)

The Kuijken recording has been released and released a number of times. I think it's still the one must have album of the violin concertos so I'm not surprised to see the price set so high.

Btw, Kuijken has a new release of the Bach cello suites performed on a violoncello da spalla (shoulder cello) which is on my short list because Kuijken's bowing is always a marvel. It's not for everyone, but if you also enjoy the cello suites performed on viola, it should suit you to a tee.

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post #10 of 53
3/9/09 at 1:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunnyears View Post
The Suwanai is certainly not worth the price they are asking for the cd in an economy like this! The price is artificially high as it's a Japanese import. If the yen falls to reasonable levels, then by all means acquire it. However, if you can tolerate the idea of buying it as compressed music files it is more reasonable.

A better bet in this economy is the new Julia Fischer Bach Concertos made with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. They are both well made and feature a young, versatile violinist who isn't bored with Bach leading modern instrument chamber sized orchestras. When I saw Hahn's album, I wondered if the same studio minds were behind both albums as they are both from companies of the Universal-Polygram Music Group (Philips -- now Universal Japan; and Decca)
I should be receiving the Fischer Bach VC disc any day now......only other new version recently acquired is the Hillary Hahn CD, be interesting to compare the two......

do you have any preference between those two?
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post #11 of 53
3/9/09 at 3:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkAngel View Post
I should be receiving the Fischer Bach VC disc any day now......only other new version recently acquired is the Hillary Hahn CD, be interesting to compare the two......

do you have any preference between those two?
No, except for the slightly wetter accoustic in the newer Fischer recording, they are very similar. Both ladies go light on the vibrato, both have a chamber sized orchestra using modern instruments in a HIP influenced style, both use brisk tempos, and both ladies really have wonderful technical mastery. If you have one, I doubt you really need the other. The Suwanai is also very similar. Differences between the three are subtle. I don't doubt that the Fischer will eventually be at your music, so I wouldn't rush to pull the trigger on that one, especially now that Decca has been absorbed into the Universal recordings in Germany, which also owns the BMG music shops.

Now, you've got me wondering if I've been buying just because it's new and novel rather than because I really need any of them. In the end, the Kuijken will be the one I go to most often, or even the Szeryng (also with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and Neville Marriner) if I want a slower tempo and a cooler old school approach than the delicious, emotional, schmaltz of the Stern/Perlman/Schneider recording of the concertos.

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post #12 of 53
3/11/09 at 12:32am
Hi all,
I must apologize for my recent absence, I've had some pretty serious problems with my system and honestly music was sounding like sh!t and I pretty much stopped listening for the last 6 months. The good news is I isolated where the problem was and have now fixed it, so I'm listening again, and will start posting again as well.

As a first, tentative step, I'll throw out my most favorite recent recording for Violin:



Vivaldi has had no shortage of great recordings in the past few years, and this one has to go right to the top of the list, both for playing and for sonics.
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post #13 of 53
3/11/09 at 12:51am
This thread is 1) perfect timing and 2) so bad for my wallet. Thanks so much for these great recos.
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post #14 of 53
3/11/09 at 9:34am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyson View Post
As a first, tentative step, I'll throw out my most favorite recent recording for Violin:

Vivaldi has had no shortage of great recordings in the past few years, and this one has to go right to the top of the list, both for playing and for sonics.
Yes that Vivaldi CD is very nice, I purchased that when first released on the basis of Podger's reputation........a winner
I also pretty much buy any of the various Italian groups orchestral Vivaldi on Opus 111 / Naive labels

Tyson you need that Oistrakh collection in first post!
(I remember previously you liked his work)
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post #15 of 53
3/11/09 at 2:14pm
If you want to try something more contemporary, the Rautavarra Violin Concerto is very easy to like, modern sounding and excellently recorded. It was written in 1977.

Catalogue: Details - Ondine

Sad to say but there is a world of post 1950 classical music that seems to be totally overlooked.
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