[Oistrakh]

what does everyone here think of the violinist Gil Shaham?

 

[caterpillar_36]

A very clean violinist. Love his Sibelius and Four Seasons, and his chamber endeavors are also quite enjoyable (like his Schubert for Two album). A fair number of people seem to think he's not an interesting violinist, for some reason.

 

[augustwest]

I like Gil Shaham's playing quite a lot. But this is the age of many technically proficient violinists, so it is hard for anyone of them to stand out from the pack. This coupled with the fact that the interest in classical music is diminishing at a rather rapid rate, make it a rough go even for someone as talented as Gil Shaham, as well as many of his contemporaries.

- augustwest

 

[Oistrakh]

come on, people! His brahms and sibelius concerti are excellent!

 

[Aman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by caterpillar_36 /img/forum/go_quote.gif A very clean violinist. Love his Sibelius and Four Seasons, and his chamber endeavors are also quite enjoyable (like his Schubert for Two album). A fair number of people seem to think he's not an interesting violinist, for some reason.

"Clean" is the word that comes to mind for me, too. He has a very presentable, uncolored style. He's always been to me a "play it as written" kind of guy who always allowed for the beauty of the piece to come through, without ever putting his own "flavor" into it.

 

[radiohlite]

has anyone heard his Bartok 2nd with Boulez? quite nice.

 

[BAwig05]

His "Serenade" with the composer (Lenny) conducting is really good

 

[majid]

His Barber is pretty good too, I certainly prefer it to Bell's.

I never heard him in performance, but I did attend one with his sister Orli and the SF Symphony. A very talented family.

 

[Oistrakh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman /img/forum/go_quote.gif "Clean" is the word that comes to mind for me, too. He has a very presentable, uncolored style. He's always been to me a "play it as written" kind of guy who always allowed for the beauty of the piece to come through, without ever putting his own "flavor" into it.

which is why he rocks (szeryng is also like that to) Now heifetz on the other hand...

 

[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman /img/forum/go_quote.gif "Clean" is the word that comes to mind for me, too. He has a very presentable, uncolored style. He's always been to me a "play it as written" kind of guy who always allowed for the beauty of the piece to come through, without ever putting his own "flavor" into it.

I just saw him doing Mozart's 5th violin concerto in January and clean and neutral is not the way anyone would describe his play. Nor was it "played as written" with the cadenzas he added.

He has a big, Russian sound with plenty of vibrato and if it wasn't what we've come to expect for Mozart it was a lot of fun. I do have to admit that it wasn't completely successful, in part because of muffed orchestra play (the Philadelphia seems to be struggling with Eschenbach even knowing he's on the way out). "Transparent" was not the way to describe the orchestra's sound.

Shaham certainly can play like lightening; I've never heard the first movement played so fast before, or the last for that matter. He also added very long, emotional, intricate, and involved cadenzas, moving in at one point for one of them so close to Eschenbach that we could hardly see him. At that point he was so bent over and had moved so far back in front of (or should I more properly say behind?) Eschenbach that it looked like he was fiddling right up his nose from our seats as we could only see the bow moving in and out behind the back of Eschenbach's head. It was probably one of the weirdest looking interludes ever in Carnegie Hall. However, it was exciting to hear a full blown, romantic interpretation of Mozart for a change, and imo better than the stuff that Anne-Sophie Mutter had on her cd because the sound of the full orchestra balanced out the big violin so much better than the smaller chamber ensemble she used.

 

[bperboy]

I've got a recording of the Prokofiev violin sonata, and I would also describe him as clean, playing whats written. One might even describe it as a tad uptight.

 

[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman /img/forum/go_quote.gif "Clean" is the word that comes to mind for me, too. He has a very presentable, uncolored style. He's always been to me a "play it as written" kind of guy who always allowed for the beauty of the piece to come through, without ever putting his own "flavor" into it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bperboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've got a recording of the Prokofiev violin sonata, and I would also describe him as clean, playing whats written. One might even describe it as a tad uptight.

I guess he saves his emotion and creativity for Mozart.