Favorite Violin Concerto - Composer and Performance

[scottder]

For a while now I have really been digging Joshua Bell doing "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E Minor, Op. 64" by Mendelssohn (Beethoven is also on the CD, but really I just bought it for the Mendelssohn.




Scott

 

[AndreYew]

Only 1? That's going to be tough. The Beethoven violin concerto holds a special place for me, but no favorite recordings of it, since my favorite performance was a live performance. Same thing with the Brahms, especially for its lovely second movement.

For recorded stuff I like, the Stravinsky violin concerto is wonderful, and I like Hilary Hahn's recording of it because it's so effortless that older recordings sound strained and technically unsure. Her interpretation is faster than normal which really brings out the rhythms of the piece.

Gil Shaham's recording of the Korngold is also wonderful --- it's like movie music made into a violin concerto! So many common movie music gestures you hear today came from Korngold, and it's really cool to hear them woven into a violin concerto. The accompanying Barber violin concerto on that disk is also wonderful and has especially lovely brooding melodies, though I prefer Hahn's super-fast pointillistic 3rd movement.

The Bach violin concerti are also wonderful, but I haven't heard a recording I've really loved yet.

--Andre

 

[scottder]

AndreYew,

After some reviews of Hilary Hahn, seems people either love what she does or loothe it with a passion, not a lot of middle ground. Of course it seems those are generally the only people motivated to write reviews of things online in general.

Scott

 

[CSMR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndreYew The Bach violin concerti are also wonderful, but I haven't heard a recording I've really loved yet. --Andre

Same here really, but I recently borrowed the double concerto with Kreisler and Zimbalist, recorded in 1915. What life and charm! Unexeptional string quartet accompaniment. Unfortunately I haven't been able to purchase the CD - it's in the Naxos historical series. I put an order in with Tower but they couldn't find it.

I haven't found the secret of the Beethoven concerto, and got beyond thinking of it as variations on a D-major scale. Perhaps I should have another go trying to play it and see if I change my mind.
My favourite violin concerto is the Brahms. I have a great recording by Tasmin Little, but would be glad of other recommendations. I also have a Milstein recording which I find too loose and relaxed.
Heifetz' Tchaikovsky recording on RCA would have to be up there.

 

[Tyson]

Scary good. Intensity off the scale.

 

[AndreYew]

Scott,

The general consensus about Hahn seems to be that she's technically perfect, but musically uninteresting. I agree with the former assessment, but not necessarily the latter. Her recordings have not done her playing full justice: attending a live concert of hers, you can hear how focused her tone is, and how much color she can bring out. It's this missing color that I think makes her recorded performances less than interesting. Her Beethoven recording is OK, but to hear her play it live was something else, especially in the cadenza which was way bigger scaled than I thought the music could ever be. Her encore a couple of years ago for a concert with the LA Philharmonic (playing the Brahms) was an astounding transcription of a Schubert lieder for solo violin. Talk about incredible technical control put in service of the music!

The recordings of hers that I mentioned are examples where it's very clear her virtuosity really brings something out of the music that I have heard nowhere else.

--Andre

 

[redshifter]

beethoven's violin concerto, the live recording of menhuin with furtwangler conducting. it's mono, but still glorious.

 

[jamont]

Brahms Concerto - Oistrakh/Klemperer
Bruch, Scottish Fantasy - Heifetz/Sargent
Bernstein, Serenade - Stern/Bernstein

Beethoven and Shostakovich 1 are also favorites, but it's hard to pick a single favorite recording.

 

[MusicJunkie]

My favorite VC by far is Shostakovich #1 and my favorite recording is by David Oistrakh with Mitropoulos and the NY Phil. I also like Vengerov and Repin quite a bit.

MJ

 

[mickelae]

sibelius played by cho-liang lin...a warhorse in the violin repertoire played by an underservingly underrated violinist.

 

[jamont]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MusicJunkie My favorite VC by far is Shostakovich #1 and my favorite recording is by David Oistrakh with Mitropoulos and the NY Phil. I also like Vengerov and Repin quite a bit.

I enjoy all of these, also Mordkovich/Jarvi and Salerno-Sonnenberg/Shostakovich. We're fortunate indeed to have so many choices.

 

[Bill Ward]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickelae sibelius played by cho-liang lin...a warhorse in the violin repertoire played by an underservingly underrated violinist.

There's also a meltingly gorgeous Bruch 1st paired with the Scottish Fantasy under Slatkin on CBS.

BW

 

[TonyTripleA]

My favourite classical recordings are all violin... my old favourite was Tchaikovsky's violin concerto (op.35) wow, but now, thanks to a head fi recommendation its Prokofiev violin concertos 1 & 2, under the Decca "legends" label. This is a 1958 recording by Ansermet with Ricci playing the fiddle. The second concerto would get my vote as the most dramatic violin I have experienced (not just heard).

And keep the recommendations coming I'm up for some new CDs...

Cheers,

TonyAAA

 

[scottder]

Prokofiev Violin Concertos 1 & 2 (Ormandy/Stern) on CBS, only recording I have heard of these, but this another of my top classical CDs, such passionate stuff I love it!

Scott

 

[some1x]

Beethoven/Brahms Violin Concerto - Heifetz/Munch ... Heifetz's powerful and perfect tone makes other recordings sound too polite for Beethoven.



I think Heifetz has even more passionate distracters than Hahn.

I used to like Sibelius also (Mutter playing), but now it doesn't seem as interesting.