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Elgar: Violinkonzert/Chausson:
Poème
Itzhak Perlman & Edward Elgar has
always caused consternation among English critics, largely because
it's so much better played from a purely technical point of view
than any performance by an English violinist. With its relatively
swift tempos, the performance is sometimes judged to be lacking
in repose and "inwardness," whatever that is. All of
this is complete nonsense.Perlman's playing of this extremely
long and difficult concerto places it squarely in the grand Romantic
tradition, which is precisely where it belongs. Itzhak Perlman's
plays the pants off the piece, and in Daniel Barenboim he has
an excellent Edward Elgar conductor leading an orchestra (the
Chicago Symphony) of almost peerless quality. An essential Perlman
disc. --David Hurwitz |
Reviewer: Frank Beck from New York
Itzhak Perlman and Daniel Barenboim provide an interpretation
with plenty of finesse and excitement, but I would urge anyone
who loves this work--or wants to explore it--to hear the recording
by Kyung-Wha Chung and Sir Georg Solti that was reissued last
year by Decca, coupled with the Mendelssohn concerto.Chung is
better than anyone I've heard at capturing the mercurial qualities
of Edward Elgar's score. Pinchas Zukerman once said that of all
the violin concertos in the repertory he found this one the most
difficult, not technically, but because of the complexity of
the emotions it expresses. Listen, for example, to the tenderness
with which the violin makes its first entry, and then compare
that to the extroverted feelings expressed elsewhere in the first
movement.Chung is particularly good in the meditative passages
of the cadenza, which she plays with riveting intensity. And
listen to the impassioned way she later bids the themes farewell
and launches into the coda. Solti's partnering is superb, and
the recording is excellent.Chung's version is available from
Amazon but you may have trouble finding it, because it's just
listed under Elgar's Violin Concerto as "Concerto Violin
(2)" with no indication of the artist. The disc is also
available from Amazon.co.uk, which has a complete listing for
it. |
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