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Recommending a CD: Tchaikovsky's violin concerto

15K views 41 replies 26 participants last post by  DavidA 
#1 · (Edited)
I just listened this this CD and it was one of the best violin concertos I've listened to, both in the composition itself and performance; Tchaikovsky was always a favorite of mine, but even he surprised me; and the best part of it all-I got this CD for the price of an ice cream! Get it if you can!
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#6 ·
Joshua Bell is such a pleasure to play with and listen to. He is no prima donna and keeps his ego in check. His performances and recordings always seem honest, serious and well thought out. His flaw, and it's not of his making, is his nationality. There's a real snobbery in classical music and everyone "knows" that an American violinist can't be world-class. I like this version of the concerto with Ashkenazy, but the conductor did make another, with Boris Belkin back in the '70s, that is a real hair-raiser - it's been my favorite version of the complete concerto since it came out.
 
#27 ·
I saw Joshua Bell in concert too and was very good. Back to your other point, just the other day I saw an article (I can't find it now) where the topic was Best Female Violinist Today. I think their top choice was Julia Fischer which is certainly a fine choice. Nowhere, however, did they have Hilary Hahn. If you had seem some of the others, it was a joke. The author said that if we put our email address in that he would get back to us. When I said, "Where's Hilary Hahn?" I never heard from him. Didn't surprise me.
 
#9 ·
Ashkenazy is Russian born, but now a citizen of Iceland. But when you're an international star, it doesn't matter. Ashkenazi jews originally settled in western Germany in the middle ages, but eventually found their way east to Russian areas, again because of religious persecution. His father was a jew, hence the name. Mother was Russian Orthodox.
 
#10 ·
My favourite version of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto is by Maxim Vengerov, with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic. It's coupled with a fantastic recording of the Glazunov concerto.

Whilst not usurping Vengerov in my affections, I hugely enjoyed last year's beautiful recording by Hilary Hahn, with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Its more unusual pairing is what I believe is the first (and only?) recording of Jennifer Higdon's violin concerto, which is also worth hearing.
 
#33 ·
This site is very useful if you're interested in finding uncut performances of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. It also documents major recordings and which cuts or other changes they employed.

http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Violin_Concerto:_Recordings

For example, Heifetz used the Leopold Auer version with 92 bars cut from the finale, but added a few of his own alterations to the score.
 
#34 ·
I think that Russian violinists manage to find something special in Tchaikovsky’s Concerto. David Oistrakh is probably the finest although Leonid Kogan runs him pretty close. Oistrakh had a specially sweet tone. Kogan’s misfortune was to be his contemporary and always to be compared with him rather than judged on his own merits. And on his own merits he was great. Unfortunately there seem to be cuts in his version with Silvestri. As a second version, not an only one, I would suggest listening to Mischa Elman. Also Russian but from a previous generation. He made a renowned version on shellac with Barbirolli and then at the end of his career recorded it for Decca with Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic. The music occasionally crawls along, his technique has problems with the cadenza but maybe these speeds are how Tchaikovsky would have heard it. Maybe one to listen to on Spotify or one of the other streaming sites initially.
Incidentally one violinist who seemed to avoid this Concerto was Yehudi Menuhin. I know there is a recording with Fricsay which manages to cut the last movement to under six minutes. He also started to record it for HMV with Boult but this was never completed. However due to to the miracles of modern engineering Warner have managed to create a complete performance. I’m not sure of the ethics of this as clearly Menuhin was dissatisfied with what he had done but it’s well worth listening to. However if you want to hear genuine Menuhin Tchaikovsky try his 20 minute contribution to the Efrem Kurtz highlights from Swan Lake. The guy is really exceptional here.
 
#40 · (Edited)
Among older recordings, for me, the first choice is David Oistrakh, with either Konwitschny in Dresden or Ormandy in Philadelphia:



My next choice would be violinist Michael Rabin, with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Alceo Galliera (though Rabin was technically a better violinist than Oistrakh, & just about everyone else for that matter):

My third choice would be Nathan Milstein--his classic recording with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conducted by William Steinberg (which is better than the later Abbado recording, if memory serves...): .

& my fourth choice would be violinist Arthur Grumiaux with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, conducted by Bernard Haitink, who's an underrated and often illuminating Tchaikovsky conductor, IMO: . (I find Grumiaux's violin playing to be more interesting than Henryk Szeryng's, who likewise recorded the work with Haitink on Philips.)

As for digital era recordings (or nearly so), my top five picks for this work are: (1) Oleg Kagan (a student of Oistrakh's), with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Diansug Kachidze: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajZXXDUAxa8Uto; (2) Uto Ughi with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kurt Sanderling (on RCA Red Seal): & https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8366602--tchaikovsky-dvorak-concerto-per-violino; (3) Boris Belkin with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy (or a live 1975 video in New York with Leonard Bernstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzX9GSao1QI); (4) Vadim Repin with the Kirov Orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev (though Repin has recorded the work a number of times, and I'm not certain this is the best of them): , and (5) Maxim Vengerov with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Claudio Abbado. (Gil Shaham is excellent too, but I'm not crazy about Sinopoli's conducting. I have not heard Lisa Batiashvili with Barenboim on DG, despite that I am a huge fan of her violin playing. However, I was disappointed with Barenboim's conducting of the Sibelius VC coupling--as he's no Sibelian.)

As usual, there are a lot of good ones to choose from...
 
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