A Pleasant Surprise

[Andrea]

Last night I was flipping through the TV cabel channels when I came across one of the stations from Germany. There was a performance of Beethoven's Three Sonatas for Violin and Piano, Op. 12. Anne Sophie Mutter was the violinist and Lambert Orkis the pianist. It was a BBC production from Paris and I think it was from 1999. I quite enjoyed this performance and it's the first time I have heard these sonatas. I especially liked the 3rd sonata in E-flat major. A pleasant surprise indeed.

All I knew about these sonatas was that Beethoven dedicated them to Salieri in 1799. I also found part of a review from the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung that found these Beethoven sonatas "a forced attempt at strange modulations, an aversion to the conventional key relationships, a piling up of difficulty upon difficulity." Sounds like they didn't want to accept the fact that Beethoven's music was changing music into another direction, away from that of Mozart and Haydn.

Then just when I thought that it couldn't get any better, this performance was followed by a showing of a 1970 broadcast from Berlin (old DDR) of Beethoven's Symphony #3, the Eroica, my favorite B. symphony! This program was one from a series made for Beethoven's 200th birthday back in Berlin. This program started out with a 15 minute discussion between the conductor Kurt Masur and two other men (I forget their names). They talked about this symphony, Beethoven and the goings on in Vienna at this time (1804) and of course Napoleon. This was then followed by the performance of the Eroica by the Staatskapelle Berlin conducted by Kurt Masur. I was in Heaven...

[Rod]

Originally posted by Andrea:
Last night I was flipping through the TV cabel channels when I came across one of the stations from Germany. There was a performance of Beethoven's Three Sonatas for Violin and Piano, Op. 12. Anne Sophie Mutter was the violinist and Lambert Orkis the pianist. It was a BBC production from Paris and I think it was from 1999. I quite enjoyed this performance and it's the first time I have heard these sonatas. I especially liked the 3rd sonata in E-flat major. A pleasant surprise indeed.

This whole set of Beethoven violin sonatas was shown on the BBC. I must say I don't think I listened to a single sonata to the end, so irratic was Mutter's performance, and Lambert played too much the 'second fiddle'!

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[m]

I watched only one sonata (Spring) when it was here in the Cables TV.
I appreciate Mutter very much but I prefer my Szeryng CD with B's sonatas.
I think I've already written about her new recording for B's concerto.
I was driving when I listened to it without knowing who the violinist was. If it wasn't my curiousity for finding out who it was, I would switch to another channel. I think it is an awful recording. She plays like a student. The tempo is too slow and it sounds like a never-ending-concerto.
I wonder where her usual temper was during this recording ?
Well, as you can see, I was very disappointed. I'm not going to purchase this CD.
Sorry.


[This message has been edited by m (edited March 08, 2003).]

[Gurn Blanston]

Originally posted by m:
I watched only one sonata (Spring) when it was here in the Cables TV.
I appreciate Mutter very much but I prefer my Szeryng CD with B's sonatas.
I think I've already written about her new recording for B's concerto.
I was driving when I listened to it without knowing who the violinist was. If it wasn't my curiousity for finding out who it was, I would switch to another channel. I think it is an awful recording. She plays like a student. The tempo is too slow and it sounds like a never-ending-concerto.
I wonder where her usual temper was during this recording ?
Well, as you can see, I was very disappointed. I'm not going to purchase this CD.
Sorry.


[This message has been edited by m (edited March 08, 2003).]

m.
Thanks for that review, I shall avoid that recording. I have her earlier one with van Karajan, and it is by far the longest version of that concerto that I own (I have 5), the tempos drag there too. My preference is for Jascha Heifetz, who takes it pretty briskly, and such nice cadenzas that he wrote. As for the sonatas, haven't heard Szeryng's, although I quite like other things I have by him, but my favorite set is Kremer/Argerich, who seem to have worked out a nice balance between them, and I like them both as individual players and as a team. Zuckerman/Neikrug are pretty nice too, although fairly polished for this tyle of sonata, which I like with some rough edges.
Regards, Gurn

[m]

Gurn,

I guess you should listen to this recording and then decide because my review is only MY review. You may have a different musical taste.
You'd better not count on me ...

I like Zukerman very much but I only have B's piano trios with him playing the violin.
I wish he'd play more often and conduct less. I don't think he's really a conductor. Well, he does move his hands but I prefer listening to his playing.

B's concerto - I have it with Szeryng (by coincidence) on an old record (LP) and I really like it.

That's all for now.

m.

[Gurn Blanston]

Originally posted by m:
Gurn,

I guess you should listen to this recording and then decide because my review is only MY review. You may have a different musical taste.
You'd better not count on me ...

I like Zukerman very much but I only have B's piano trios with him playing the violin.
I wish he'd play more often and conduct less. I don't think he's really a conductor. Well, he does move his hands but I prefer listening to his playing.

B's concerto - I have it with Szeryng (by coincidence) on an old record (LP) and I really like it.

That's all for now.

m.

m.
Well, it is not that I am relying so much on your opinion, but since you fing it 'draggy', I suspect I would too, and that's not what I like in a violin concerto. My Heifetz version is 4 minutes shorter, mostly in the 1st mvmt, and I really like it at that tempo. I don't know, $16 US is a lot to pay for something that I probably won't like.
I like Zuckerman a lot too. I also have those trios with Barenboim and DuPre, and the 5th & 9th sonatas with Neikrug, and some Vivaldi that he really does quite well. Conducting the ECO, of course. But I do also have his Haydn Violin Concertos, and they are very good, although it's difficult to compare as I have no others. Not recorded often, falling as they do in the galant, not quite baroque nor classical I guess. Interesting as transitional type though. Well, best Regards, talk to later,
Gurn

[Poseidan73]

I have Mutter's new CD. I bought it for the Violin Romances. I also have Christian Ferras/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Malcom Sargent's recording, which i prefer over Mutter's. Has anyone got the Joshua Bell CD, with his own cadenza? Would appreciate a review. Also, can anyone recommend a CD with the romances (ADD or DDD, preferably). Thanks

[Rod]

I recommend the CD of the Violin Concerto (plus the Romances) with the 'Orchestra of the 18th Century' conducted by Frans Bruggen on Phillips. This is the least slothful available.

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[This message has been edited by Rod (edited March 09, 2003).]