Ludwig van Beethoven; Jean Sibelius - Violin Concertos (Zino Francescatti; David Oistrakh)

Information

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven; Jean Sibelius

1. Beethoven - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61: I. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Beethoven - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61: II. Larghetto
3. Beethoven - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61: III. Rondo. Allegro
4. Sibelius - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47: I. Allegro moderato
5. Sibelius - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47: II. Adagio di molto
6. Sibelius - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47: III. Allegro, ma non tanto

(1-3) Zino Francescatti, violin
Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Bruno Walter, conductor

(4-6) David Oistrakh, violin
Philadelphia Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy, conductor

Date: 1961 (1-3), 1959 (4-6)
Label: Sony Classical

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

This is not the most orthodox of couplings. Sony must have been struggling against the 'usual suspects'. How easy it would have been to match up Oistrakh's Philadelphia Sibelius with his Tchaikovsky - both with Ormandy and the Fabulous Philadelphians. Instead Oistrakh is harnessed to Francescatti and his Tchaikovsky is with Gilels/Mehta on another Sony Essential.

Francescatti is well up to the challenge of the Beethoven at all levels and turns in a good performance. He is delicacy personified and makes the violin sing without undue vibrato. This effect is aided by Bruno Walter whose smiling song lofts the music to sun-drenched pastures. To hear unselfish mutuality at play listen to 1.01 in the finale.

The Sibelius tape is only a couple of years older and yet the hiss is noticeably more pronounced. Oistrakh gives a very fine performance partnered by a doughty Sibelian who had within ten years before this recording visited Sibelius in Järvenpää. The unmistakable gruff stamp of authority can be heard from the very first bars of the allegro ma non tanto. In fact the details and flair of this interpretation call out time after time. I have never heard those scudding-thudding violins with such clarity as at 3.19 in the finale until I heard this version.

Two superb recordings getting long in the tooth but only giving the game away in the discreet hiss in the Sibelius and in the peripheral surface bleaching of string sound opulence in the Beethoven.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

More reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Sibelius-Concertos-Essential-Classics/dp/B0000027OR

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. Beethoven is acknowledged as a giant of classical music, and his influence on subsequent generations was profound. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 1 violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas and 16 string quartets. Many of his most admired works come from the last decade of his life, when he was almost completely deaf.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven

***

Jean Sibelius (8 December 1865 – 20 September 1957) was a Finnish violinist and composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. His music contributed to the development of a feeling of national identity in Finland where he is now celebrated as the country's greatest composer. Sibelius is widely known for his seven symphonies, the violin concerto and the tone poems, especially Finlandia and the Karelia suite. Throughout his career, the composer found inspiration in nature and Nordic mythology. He almost completely stopped composing after 1920s and did not produce any large-scale works in his last thirty years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Sibelius

***

Zino Francescatti (August 9, 1902 in Marseilles - September 17, 1991 in La Ciotat, Bouches-du-Rhône) was a French virtuoso violinist. He studied violin from age three and was quickly recognized as a child prodigy. For three decades after 1945 he had an exceptionally impressive international career. A violinist of outstanding technical ability, his performances and recordings of the great concerti continue to be fondly remembered and highly regarded. Both in concerts and on disc, Francescati performed on the celebrated "Hart" Stradivarius violin of 1727, which he sold upon his retirement in 1976.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zino_Francescatti

***

David Oistrakh (September 30 [O.S. September 17] 1908 – October 24, 1974) was a renowned Soviet classical violinist. He is considered one of the preeminent violinists of the 20th century. Oistrakh collaborated with major orchestras and musicians from many parts of the world, including the Soviet Union, Europe, and the United States, and was the dedicatee of numerous violin works, including both of Dmitri Shostakovich's violin concerti, and the violin concerto by Aram Khachaturian. Oistrakh's playing was not so much marked by brilliance, but by richness, lyricism, roundness of tone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Oistrakh

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!