[Oistrakh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkelly /img/forum/go_quote.gif It is funny that you should choose this recording while we are discussing the merits of Maxim Vengerov versus all others because it also includes the Bruch Violin Concerto which as far as I am concerned Maxim put away for the foreseeable future. Vengerov's reading of this piece makes it sound like it has never truly been played or really understood before. The third movement as palyed by Vengerov sounds as if it was written for him (as does the whole peice for that matter) but I can't imagine anyone coming close playing that third movment as well as Vengerov has.

clearly, you haven't heard kyung wha chung or pinchas zukerman's recordings of the bruch... But seeing how you only listen to Vengerov's recordings and say that everything he records is the best ever recorded, I'm not really surprised.

 

[bkelly]

Oistrakh,

Well, you would be partially right in saying that I had never heard the Zukerman (at least not that I know of) but I have heard Kying Wha Chung play the Bruch Conceto both before I heard Vengerov do it once since. It was a radio performence so that may have had something to do with it but I wasn't as moved buy it as the Vengerov version by any means and I consider myself a big fan of hers. Maybe I will buy that too if you think it is on par with the Vengerov. Certainly Wha Chung is a special musician so I am sure it is a first class performance no mattter what.

 

[Oistrakh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkelly /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oistrakh, Well, you would be partially right in saying that I had never heard the Zukerman (at least not that I know of) but I have heard Kying Wha Chung play the Bruch Conceto both before I heard Vengerov do it once since. It was a radio performence so that may have had something to do with it but I wasn't as moved buy it as the Vengerov version by any means and I consider myself a big fan of hers. Maybe I will buy that too if you think it is on par with the Vengerov. Certainly Wha Chung is a special musician so I am sure it is a first class performance no mattter what.

What are your thoughts on Vengerov's Mendelssohn concerto? Its on the same disc as the bruch...

 

[bkelly]

Oistrakh,

Surprisingly it turns out that I already own the Kyung Wha Chung recording of the Bruch Violin Concerto. I realized that when I went online to order the CD. It's on one of her first recordings. It's coupled with her Mendelssohn Concerto that I love. I listen to the Mendelssohn at least twice a year but I don't have the CD player programmed to play the rest of the CD so I never hear the two Bruch pieces. I must have thought at one time that they weren't anything special but I listened to the Bruch Violin Concerto twice tonight and it is wonderful. Vengerov's reading of this piece is so different from Wha Chung's that I wouldn't even want to compare them. It's enough to say that they are both exceptional performances.

As far as whether or not I think everything that Vengerov does is the best my answer is of course not. However, I do completely beleive that Vengerov is the most musically talented and most skilled violinist who has ever lived and from that I think it is always possilbe that each new recording of his is going to be the "best" version available. Sadly it turns out that even Vengerov misses once in awhile. It's also common for Vengerov's readings to be so unusual that even when I think his is the most incredible recording it is still hard to compare it with other versions.

I remember buying his recording of Tzigane and feeling confident that this woudl easily be the definitive version of this piece since it seemed so right for Vengerov's talents in my opinion. Suprisingly it was not and since that time Vengerov has recorded the piece it again and missed. My long time favorite recording of this piece is the Perlman version and to tell you the truth Vengerov is not even close that in my opnion.

Same with his Ave Maria. No big deal. He sounds like a student violinist on it.

Beyond that I know full well that I was born to love the music of Vengerov. For starters I love the Russiam composers and further I have always loved passion, drama and romance in my musical performers and performances and Vengerov has all three of these qualities going for him in triple spades. So much so that his critics usually claim that he has too much of these qualities but, as I say, for these reasons and many others his music suits me well.

As far as Vengerov's Mendelssohn goes I love it. I think it is the best recording ever of this piece although Wha Chungs is also a favorite. The way Vengeropv perfroms this piece to me makes it sound like it has never truly been played before. He brings out a gypsy like quality in this piece that no one else has even com e close to in my opinion. However, I know that many others think that this is a great example of Vengerov's tendency to overplay and over dramatize an otherwise more tradionolly interpretd peice. In my opinion that peice of music was just waiting for the day that someone like Vengerov would really make that piece sing it's heart out.

As much as I like the Mendelssohn Concerto Vangerov's reading o the Sibelius is off the charts. It's another peice that Vengerov was born to play.

As it is I do not expect everyone to agree with me nor is that important to me ecause if were to turn out that I was the only person in the world who truly appreciated the skill and talents of Maxim Vengerov that would be enough for me. Fortunately for Vengerov that is not the case.

 

[Oistrakh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkelly /img/forum/go_quote.gif As far as Vengerov's Mendelssohn goes I love it. I think it is the best recording ever of this piece although Wha Chungs is also a favorite. The way Vengeropv perfroms this piece to me makes it sound like it has never truly been played before. He brings out a gypsy like quality in this piece that no one else has even com e close to in my opinion. However, I know that many others think that this is a great example of Vengerov's tendency to overplay and over dramatize an otherwise more tradionolly interpretd peice. In my opinion that peice of music was just waiting for the day that someone like Vengerov would really make that piece sing it's heart out.

strange, lots of reviews online dislike his mendelssohn...

By the way, who is your favorite Bach violinist? Please don't say vengerov, because he hasn't recorded bach, and his bach recordings will probably be terrible (WRONG STYLE!)...

 

[bkelly]

I don't have Bach interpreter. I know this drives some classical music buffs nuts but I studied the early classical music when I was young so I am familiar with it but I don't particularly care for it. European music for me isn't all that interesting until Chopin came along. There are exceeptions of course but for the msot part I avoid the earlier compsoers.

I don't even own the recent Beetwhoven recording by Vengerov even though I think it was nominated for a Grammy so I assume that it is pretty good. I actually do own his earlier recordings of Beethoven's Violin Sonatas the Spring and the Kreutzter but I don't much care for them and never listen to them. To me they seem like a poor use of Vengerov's talents.

Hopefully my opinions on this do not upset you. As I say you are welcome to disagree. I just call them like I hear them. As I explained earleir I am not caught up in the culture or tradtions of classical music so I have a somewhat "detached" view of what is great and what isn't. In fact when I was growing up I never even enjoyed classical music at all until I heard Chopin, Debussey and a little later Prokofiev. Then once I heard Prokofiev I started listening to all of the Russians and from there I got seriosuly hooked on Russian modern classical music and that has stayed with me to this day. Vengerov is just the latest extension of my love for that music and it's greatest performers.

 

[Oistrakh]

-delete-

 

[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkelly /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't have Bach interpreter. I know this drives some classical music buffs nuts but I studied the early classical music when I was young so I am familiar with it but I don't particularly care for it. European music for me isn't all that interesting until Chopin came along. There are exceeptions of course but for the msot part I avoid the earlier compsoers. I don't even own the recent Beetwhoven recording by Vengerov even though I think it was nominated for a Grammy so I assume that it is pretty good. I actually do own his earlier recordings of Beethoven's Violin Sonatas the Spring and the Kreutzter but I don't much care for them and never listen to them. To me they seem like a poor use of Vengerov's talents. Hopefully my opinions on this do not upset you. As I say you are welcome to disagree. I just call them like I hear them. As I explained earleir I am not caught up in the culture or tradtions of classical music so I have a somewhat "detached" view of what is great and what isn't. In fact when I was growing up I never even enjoyed classical music at all until I heard Chopin, Debussey and a little later Prokofiev. Then once I heard Prokofiev I started listening to all of the Russians and from there I got seriosuly hooked on Russian modern classical music and that has stayed with me to this day. Vengerov is just the latest extension of my love for that music and it's greatest performers.

 

[bkelly]

Oistrakh,

I think I have said everything I want to say about Vengerov for awhile. My regard for him is pretty clear so there is no need to beat it to death. I am already well aware that Vengerov brings out the strongest reaction in both his fans and his critics so beyond my clear statemnets as to which side of the argument I am on I don't really feel a need to continue this endlessly. Since it is apparent that you like Oistrakh I assume that we have at least that much in common. I would also love to hear about anything you care a great deal about musically.

 

[Oistrakh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkelly /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oistrakh, I think I have said everything I want to say about Vengerov for awhile. My regard for him is pretty clear so there is no need to beat it to death. I am already well aware that Vengerov brings out the strongest reaction in both his fans and his critics so beyond my clear statemnets as to which side of the argument I am on I don't really feel a need to continue this endlessly. Since it is apparent that you like Oistrakh I assume that we have at least that much in common. I would also love to hear about anything you care a great deal about musically.

what do you think of vadim repin? Hes also a student of zakhar bron (same teacher as vengerov) and is a friend of vengerov

 

[bkelly]

First of Oistrakh Happy Holidays to you. Good to hear from you again.

So far I like Repin. I haven't kept up with him so I don't know what he has done latley but my first impression of him was a good one although I can't exactly say what it is I like about him other than the fact that he is Russian. He is much diffferent from Vengerov who is sterotypically a Russian performer. Compared to Maxim, Vadim is almost melancholic. He is not as dramatic as Vengerov and he doesn't, at this point in his career, sound as sure of himself as Vengerov does but there is still something very compelling about him. Maixim loves him so tht is good enough for me. They are supposed to be great friends. I saw a video of the two of them playing togehter and it was pretty awesome. Hopefully Vadim will blossom into world classs violinist if he hasn't done so already.

Do you like him?

 

[Oistrakh]

also, since you apparently like violinists with pretty sounds, what do you think of Hilary Hahn?

 

[bkelly]

It is had for me to say for certain much about Hilary Hahn. I think she is talented but since she tends to record music by the earlier composers which, as I've said earlier, doesn't much suit me, I don't keep up on her much. I have several of her recordings which I generally like but my favorite so far is her Barber recording.

You didn't say much about Repin. Do you like his playing?

 

[Oistrakh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkelly /img/forum/go_quote.gif It is had for me to say for certain much about Hilary Hahn. I think she is talented but since she tends to record music by the earlier composers which, as I've said earlier, doesn't much suit me, I don't keep up on her much. I have several of her recordings which I generally like but my favorite so far is her Barber recording. You didn't say much about Repin. Do you like his playing?

So have you heard Hilary's shostakovich, beethoven, stravinsky, mendelssohn, elgar, brahms concerti? (those are all recorded)

I don't know much about repin... My favorite violinists are perlman, menuhin, and oistrakh

 

[bkelly]

I'll have to answer this kind of quickly because I am kind of tied up.

Her Mendelsoohn has good points but it is very fast and I think much to fast for me. I have heard heard her Shostakovch and Stravinky performances but I don't remember them well even though I own both of them. If I remember right I thought that they were both better performance than I was expecting from her on these particular pieces but not particularly stellar. I could be wrong about this though.

I own and very much like her Elgar recording. Once again I want to say that I think she is vey talented but I am not all that wise to her recording career.

In my opinion and in the opinion of most critics Vengerov put the two Shostakovich Concertos out of reach for anyone in the foreseeable future. I like his recording of the Stravinsky Violin Concerto too. I don't know where it ranks since I haven't heard this concerto performed enough. I love it but it seems like it is not as highly regarded as I think I should be.

I see you named Perlman, Oistrakh and Menuhin a your favorites. All good choices as far as I am concerned.



Brian