So glad to see Hindemith and Bernstein on the list. These videos are really enjoyable, informative, and thought-provoking. One word on the next list: Ligeti.
Thank you for mentioning the Hindemith, much neglected, first performed at the Concertgebouw in 1940 and never played there since, also never played at the BBC Proms. It was given its first commercial recording by Joseph Fuchs, a fine violinist, and recorded since by many, including Oistrakh Gitlis Stern Kavakos and others. It is beautiful piece, scored for a large orchestra over which the violin sings beautifully, and is notable for the wonderful woodwind writing. Thank you again.
I'm very relieved to see Elgar included, was worried you thought it was crap. I think it's the greatest violin concerto ever written and I'll die alone on this hill if I have to.
Agreed, I have never quite got into the Berg Concerto in the way that I was told you were supposed to. This performance did it for me - the clarity, the tunefuness, the intensity, it's all there.
I love these IDEAL videos. They're so much fun! Anyway, here's my choices for IDEAL 20th Century violin concerto performances: Elgar: Yehudi Menuhin, LSO under Elgar, himself. Such a classic performance! Menuhin was only 16 and in amazing form. From 1932 so don't expect perfect sonics Berg & Brittten: Daniel Hope, from 2003. Really beautiful Stravinsky: Isaac Stern conducted by the composer. My absolute favorite! Prokofiev - both concertos - Gil Shaham under Previn. So lyrical! Dazzling Bartok - both concertos - Isabelle Faust. Idiomatic and passionate. Not a bit of chill. Shostakovich No. 1 - Vengerov under Rostrapovich. It comes with an excellent Prokofiev No. 1 or you can get it with the second Shostakovich. It'll burn your house down. Barber/Korngold - James Ehnes. I love the Shaham, too, but this one is also excellent. Hindemith - Oistrahk under the composer. The definitive version in my opinion. Bernstein - Hilary Hahn. She is a force of nature. Gorgeous! NOTE: I'm not a fan of Nielsen. I like Bloch but don't know his violin concerto.
Here is my list (with out violinist repetition) Znaider, Elgar (avec Davis) Liya Petrova, Nielsen Bress Hyman, Bloch Blacher Kolja, Berg (avec Abbado) Baiba Stride, Stravinsky Renaud Capucon, Bartok II Julia Fischer, Prokofiev I Mullova, Prokofiev II (her 2e version) Oistrakh, Hindermidth Chung Kyung-Wha, Walton Marwood, Britten Benedetti, Shostakovich I Shaham, Korngold Ehnes, Barber Hilary Hahn, Benstein serenade and I think you should include those: Danczowska, Szymanowki I Erxleben, Hartmann cto funèbre Faust, Schoenberg (actuall I prefer Blacher) Kogan, Weinberg Szeryng, Szymanowki II Gatto, Martinu II Khachatryan, Kachaturian
Thanks for doing this because I love so many 20th century violin concertos both before and after 1960. Here’s my list: Elgar - Ehnes/BBC Orch of Wales, but Kennedy/Handley is my first choice except I’m saving Kennedy for Walton. Nielsen - either your choice of Lin/Salonen or Znaider/Gilbert. Lin is coupled with one of my favorite Sibelius recordings and Znaider with great performances of the Nielsen wind concertos. Bloch - I haven’t heard for years and don’t have a recording now, but remember hearing Roman Totenberg play it and I really liked it, so I’ll have to add it to my “to get” list. However, I will substitute one here that is also wonderful and rarely performed: Frank Martin’s with Baiba Skride and the BBCNOW/Thierry Fischer on Orfeo that is coupled with an equally fine Stravinsky concerto. The beginning of the Martin is obviously influenced by the beginning of Schubert’s Unfinished (1st mvt) Berg - so many great ones! I’m picking Daniel Hope with the BBCSO/Paul Watkins on Warner coupled with an excellent Britten concerto, though I could have also chosen Zehetmair coupled with Hartmann’s wonderful Concerto funebre and the so-called Janacek concerto. Among several others! Bartok - 2 probably the 20th C violin concerto I like best! Have many recordings, but will choose Zehetmair/Fischer now on Brilliant Classics for both concertos though I really think he wrote only 1! For his great one I’ll choose Mullova/Salonen for the original version with the terrific brassy ending again coupled with an equally great Stravinsky concerto. If you want both the original and revised finales there is always Zukerman/Slatkin if it is still available. Hindemith: a greatly underrated masterpiece - Stern/Bernstein now coupled with Penderecki 1 or a recent one that’s almost as fine with Zimmermann and the Frankfurt RSO/P. Järvi on BIS that includes 4 of his violin sonatas as well. Walton - Kennedy/Previn with an equally great Viola Concerto which is hands down my favorite Walton work, i.e., the Viola Concerto! Prokofiev: 1 and 2 with Gil Shaham and the LSO/Previn or Vengerov/Rostropovich coupled on 2 separate CDs with terrific accounts of both Shostakovich concertos. For #2 alone, the wild Kopatchinskaja with the LPO/Jurowski also containing my current first choice for the Stravinsky. Shostakovich: both concertos (I like the second as much as the first) Ibragimova/Jurowski or Vengerov listed above. Tetzlaff/Storgards on Ondine is also worth considering for a valid non-Russian view! Barber - Takezawa/Slatkin or Oliveira/Slatkin, but Stern/Bernstein is still my favorite. Bernstein Serenade: Anne Akiko Myers with BBCSSO/Volkov on a BBC Music disc. Korngold - though I don’t consider it a major concerto - also on a BBC Music cover disc with Jack Liebeck and the Ulster Orch/Paul Watkins.
@@colintalcroft6394 Within the dates but, more importantly, generally seen as part of the active repertoire, either through regular recordings or live performances. I don't see that this qualifies, and it sucks because it's a great work. First class in every way.
This is great! Thanks! I love both Prokofiev concertos, grew up on the Oistrakh/Galliera (Angel LP with a wonderful Mozart 3d on the flip) recording of the beautiful & mysterious #2, didn't hear #1 until much later. I think #1 is the masterpiece. Cho-Liang Lin (with Salonen) has a fine CD of the pair, with the Stravinsky. As for Berg: Szerying/Kubelik was my intro & I still love it.
Great topic and splendid list! I would urge several American additions: Sessions and Schuman (both with Paul Zukofsky). Especially the Schuman, which has a discography that attests to the work's appeal and justifies its inclusion. And after 1960, the list of great American violin concertos really grows (the video on post-1960 violin concertos can't come soon enough for me). On a related note, please, please do an ideal list of great American symphonies. It is much needed.
I forgot to add my agreement with commenter Don to add to the list Martinu's 2nd violin concerto - inexhaustibly great (both the work and the composer).
Thanks for another great discussion. I like the romantic repertoire more than the 20th century modern one, but you definitely aroused my curiosity, especially about the shostakovich concerto. I will definitely look for it. And although it is not a concerto but only a short piece for violin and orchestra, I really like vaughan williams lark ascending. Heard it with Jansen and hahn, and loved both versions. And of course the piece itself is so beautiful and sweet and touching.
Good point. The Elgar doesn't feel like a "20th century" piece, yet isn't showy and romantic, and The Lark Ascending is very striking and unique. The Sibelius also feels "on the cusp", maybe some similarities to the Nielsen.
I am so glad you picked the Gil Shaham version of Korngold/Barber. A magnificent disc. But, I also really like the Nicolaj Znaider Korngold/Brahms disc. Magnificent and I think he makes more music in the Korngold slow movement than any other recording I know.
Shaham is fantastic in the Korngold. I wish HH would record it commercially. Her performance on RUclips is fantastic and IMO the only one that can compete with Shaham.
Thank you for mentioning the Bernstein Serenade. It is a major concerto that serves as one reminder that Bernstein composed quite a few significant works in addition to West Side Story. On RUclips, there is a terrific performance by Janine Jansen. Cheers.
The Hindemith concerto is the most neglected masterpiece of all violin concerti. So warm, virtuosic, beautiful, symphonic. You mention briefly the Kavakos recording on Chandon with YPT which is fantastic BUT the standout is the newer recording with FP Zimmermann and Paavo. Check it out... fabulous. There is an amazing performance with them on the Berlin Phil Digital Concert Hall. Walton himself considered the cello concerto his finest concerto, and while it is quite fine, I think the violin concerto is the best (both the violin and cello concerti are certainly better than the viola concerto... ) James Ehnes and Joshua Bell’s Walton recordings for me...
I love this review. Is very interesting to hear about so much information of violin concertos. May I suggest the beautiful concerto of the Finish composer Rautavaara. (Hans de Jong)
This background gives me flashbacks to your early videos. What happened to your tam-tam? Is it in repair? Was it Pipo who broke it after her newfound fame got to her head?
Thank you, Dave, for another wonderful video on violin concertos. Slightly off topic, you mention a couple of times that soft endings are the kiss of death for many classical works. It occurs to me, though, that a number of operas end quietly and quite successfully. Some of Verdi's most beautiful endings come with Boccanegra, Aida, and Forza and are all quite beautiful. So with Wagner's Walkure and Tristan. And Eugene Onegin also ends quite softly and suddenly. I don't know if comparing opera endings with other kind of endings is valid or not -- just thinking about quiet endings. Wesley
Interesting and very valid point! I think the difference is that in opera we've seen a story unfold and the ending is justified in terms of the dramatic arc of the plot. Symphonies theoretically do the same thing--I have no problem with quiet endings and fine them equally justified, but audiences often don't hear them that way and the artists was a dazzling ending to maximize the applause.
Vengerov had a shoulder injury in 2005, and he took a 3-year break from playing beginning in 2008, which some believe was due to the inury (Vengerov said he took time off to study conducting).
Your's is a perfect list, so I just have to add some concertos I like very much. - One of the more often recorded is the "Concerto funebre" for violin and strings by the bavarian Karl Amadeus Hartmann. Stylistically it has to do with Berg, Bartók and Hindemith. I recommend the recording with Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Rafael Kubelik on Orfeo (live) or the one with André Gertler and Karel Ancerl (Supraphon, absolutely fantastic in its expressivety, but out of print, I fear). There are also other fine recordings of the work; Penderecki, who understood the dark and tragic tone very well, recorded it with Christiane Edinger, and one gets the beautiful Szymanowski / 1-concerto, too. - Not often recorded, alas, but a sleeper of great violin concertos is in my opinion the one by the US-composer Louis Gruenberg. There is just one recording, recorded in 1945, Jascha Heifetz plays the solo part, Monteux is the conductor; the sound is not really good, alas. I cannot understand, why no violinist cares about this full blooded work. On Naxos it's coupled with Prokofiev / 2. - More often recorded is the Concerto by Gian Carlo Menotti, which is in the same vein as Korngold's and Barber's. The best recording seems to me the one by Tossy Spivakovsky and Charles Munch, but it is mono and technically not top. On Naxos it's coupled with Menottis opera "Maria Golovin", and I can imagine, that this opera makes fine dreams for Pippo. A newer, technically better recording comes from Ruggero Ricci (violin) and Keith Clark on Reference, coupled with Barbers. - And here is a sleeper, and I guarantee, it's fantastic! The polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz was a violinist herself, but in the first place an immensely gifted composer. She developed from a quasi hindemithian style step after step to a modernist language. She handeled the violin concerto as other composers the symphony, as medium for aspects of expression unified by a certain state of mind. She wrote 7 violin concertos (yes, indeed, seven! But it's a strange case with the 6th, being never performed and never published). The 1st (1937), being influenced by Hindemith and Shostakovich, has got more attention than the others, I guess, but my favourite is the 3rd (1948). Oh, what a work! Stylistically, it has to do with Bartók, it opens with a melody like a plain chant, then gets more and more tension. The 2nd movement is a gorgeous Andante with a heartfelt melodic warmth and the 3rd is a virtuoso finale with rhythmic drive. The recording one gets easiest, and which is very good, is the one on Chandos with Joanna Kurkowicz and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Lukasz Borowicz. It's coupled with Bacewicz's concertos 1 and 7 (the last in a very modernist neo-expressionist style), and you get the Ouverture for orchestra (1943): Play it to your friends as the "omitted movement" from Bartóks "Concerto for Orchestra" - they'll believe you! Oh, yes, I just forgot to add: The concerto, which really becomes interesting only in the 20th century, is in my opinion the one for cello. In the romantic repertoire, there is just one really good cello concerto, the Dvorák, of course. But in the 20th century, all composers seem to have hoped that Rostropovich plays them. And he did more often than not...
@@AlexMadorsky Ît's considerably well covered on recordings, I'd say. E.g. Zehetmair did it with the Berg, Holliger conducting and there are more recent ones. I am also missing Szymanowski, they were mentioned further above. As for somewhat exotic "ones" (but IMO not more so than Bloch or Bernstein), I'd nominate Reger (almost as long as the Elgar and also too long), Schönberg, Khatchaturian, Kabalevsky, Weill. And for postromantics similar to Korngold: Wolf-Ferrari, Dohnanyi, Rosza (recorded by Heifetz).
Thanks Dave. A great list and looking forward to the more extended talks about eg the Berg, which is the greatest of all of them I think. I do think you could have squishes Martinu’s second concerto in there as it’s been performed and recorded as much as the Hindemith im sure. The britt n concerto gets played a lot these days, at least here, and way way more than Elgar etc. Not sure what you mean about the Barton second either - it gets done a lot in concert, way more than eg Bernstein or Korngold (it’s my taste I guess but both of those seem way overrated works in any case)
FABULOUS recommendations of towering musical masterpieces, thank you! May I commend to your attention the Sergey Khachatryan Shostakovich 1st? We are on another planet with this one!
Considering myself to be a fan of Arnold Schoenberg I have to admit his violin concerto isn't one of my favourites yet. However you had to include it in this chat. You can't deny, that it's part of the standard repertoire today.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Well, I heard it at the Berliner Philharmonie with Christian Tetzlaff, RSB (not the Ensemble InterContemporain or something like that) and Vladimir Jurowski. And I'm not going to concerts quite often.
Great list! I have an admittedly strange fave recording of the Berg concerto - Sinopoli and Staatskapelle Dresdon w/Reiko Watanabe on Teldec. I think it's incredible - weighty, lyrical, wonderfully deep recorded sound. Never understood the hate Sinopoli got...
Nice of u taking up the Nielsen as I feel its a bit neglcted, probably because its too long and difficult, but as u said the material is totally fresh Nielsen style at its best
Another great list David! I’m so pleased that you mentioned Bloch! His two violin sonatas are also grossly underrated in my opinion. Likewise with Hindemith’s violin works in general! I wonder if you might also do a later talk on some contemporary violin concertos as there have been some great ones in recent years? For me Ades, Adams, Higdon, Kernis and Meyer are worth a mention amongst several others.
That's the problem. Just about anything that has been recorded in the past few decades is "worth a mention." Of course, I know what I like, but I'd prefer to give it some time.
@@DavesClassicalGuide You adopted the same approach in your Tippett Piano Concerto talk - and I totally agree with it. We need a sufficient temporal perspective. That reminds me of the following vignette: one of the former defence ministers of China was once asked of his opinion (security-wise) of the Great Wall. He thought for a moment, then replied: "Too soon to tell".
I agree, love this big, dynamic, beautiful, angular, quintessential post war American concerto with its jazz influences. Zukovsky understood and is unbeatable. Tilson Thomas excellent in Piston 2nd Symphony too. Fabulous spacious 1970 BSO recording by DG.
I'd love to see a list that branches out from the norm-core of Central European/US composers (adding in UK & Russia) to include some of the marvellous repertoire that is frequently performed and recorded outside of those centres, but which often misses the eye of critics from the core geographies. Too often they are forced into the rut of being "nationalist" composers e.g. Armenia and the former Soviet republics, the Baltics, and even Australia (Ross Edwards: Violin Concerto "Maninyas" is gorgeous and rhythmically exciting, and I think has had at least four recordings.)
DH...Love these videos. BTW,is it that time of the year for the best recording of “The Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky. Lol,right now I’m listening to the recording by Simon Rattle/BPO and I actually like it. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!
I imprinted on Termirkanov/Royal Philharmonic - love the Rattle one too but it'll never compare in my mind! Maybe DH can convince me of a new favourite!
David did a video a while back on Slatkin's bargain box of the 3 complete major Tchaikovsky ballets with the St. Louis SO. I bought it and have listened to the Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty so far. Both are great in terms of both performance and sound. For another take on the Nutcracker suite, I really like the two piano recording with Argerich and Economou that is paired with a great Tchaikovsky PC #1 with Argerich/Abbado/Berlin.
I'm going to add my two cents about a piece I like, probably because my mother dropped me on my head when I was a baby. I know the Schoenberg Violin Concerto is rarely played. I also know it is very difficult to play and a challenge for audiences (to put it mildly). Not that long ago, there were no really excellent recordings of it. Zeitlin's was ugly, Baker's was patched together from a million takes, and the rest were worse. Now, however, there are at least two really excellent versions, Hillary Hahn and Isabelle Faust. I'm not criticising anybody for not wanting to include it. I get it totally.
@@thomcook8570 I have a great Schoenberg Violin Concerto story. Back in ca. 1988, Christian Tetzlaff played the Schoenberg in Cleveland with Dohnanyi. He had studied in Cincinnati when I was there, so I knew him, and I drove from Cincinnati to Cleveland to hear the concert. He played brilliantly and the orchestra sounded great too - I couldn't play the piece, but I knew it almost by heart. So after the concert I'm standing in line to congratulate him. And Rudolf Serkin is standing in line in front of me. When Serkin got to Tetzlaff, he said "thank you for one of the greatest musical experiences of my life," and walked away. And there I stood - I told him "Well, I guess it doesn't matter what I say now." And the funny bit is that Christian did not know who it was - he had only seen him in older photographs. I had to explain it was Serkin, and he couldn't believe it. Christian Tetzlaff could not have been much more than 20 years old at the time.
I love your talks, and I am rather amazed at how similar our preferences are in so many of the works and performances you have chosen. I hope that you will do a 20th Century cello concerto ideal repertoire that will consider, among many, Elgar, Walton, Honegger, Frank Martin, Frank Bridge (Oration), Shostakovich, Bloch, Barber and the lesser known Jongen, Tansman (gorgeous), and Schoeck.
All of those concertos are absolutely great ones (Berg's concerto is my favourite of all repertoire), but for me a list of 20th century violin concertos must include Szymanowski's two. They are amazing masterpieces. And for the recordings of them I will recommend Danczowska/Kord and Zimmermann/Wit. Both discs are outstanding. David, as for the Walton concerto, Vengerov recorded the Viola concerto, not the violin one. For the violin, I'd go to Chung/Previn.
Yes, I would include at least Szymanowski No. 1, but they are both great. I mentioned the Vengerov in the text accompanying the video--it got mixed up with Haendel, but possibly fortuitously. Now I'll have to do a Viola Concerto video!
I think Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Concert funèbre is one of the great violin concertos of that era as well. It's not a repertoire piece, but I think it should be. At least there are quite a few recordings, my favourite being the Wolfgang Schneiderhan-/Rafael Kubelík performance on Orfeo.
A big shoutout for Heifetz in Elgar concerto. Wow, how I adore that recording! Still incredibly exciting after possibly hundreds of listenings. Two modern versions I like are with Philippe Graffin and Thomas Zehetmair. In Bartók 2nd we have a giant of a performance and it is of course Ivry Gitlis.
So glad you gave a shout for Nielsen's undeservedly neglected concerto. As for Khachaturian's - yes, it is awful. Enough said. Loved the rest of the presentation. You always manage to give a useful new perspective on the evolution of music and musical genres.
Hello David, I really apprciate your lively, funny and enlightening vidéos on a daily basis. They are a real treat. I admire especially, your generous and tireless advocacy of Karel Ancerl, a great conductor, I had the opportunity to hear in Toronto at the old Massey Hall. I am also looking forward to your overview of The Nutcracker. If you do, I hope you will have a few kind words for the venerable but still classy and enjoyable Ansermet recording with the OSR, well refurbished by Eoquenece Australia.
Vengerov's Britten is actually coupled with the Walton viola concerto, not the violin one. I don't think Vengerov ever recorded the Walton violin concerto. Ida Haendel's is an example of a Walton and Britten violin concerto cd coupling (and a very fine one too!)
Not only are you right, but I noticed that before I made the video then forgot about it entirely. Thanks for pointing out the error! I had meant to grab Haendel then got distracted. So yes, by all means, go for Haendel! It's great.
Benjamin britten and Walton themselves thanked ida haendel for playing their concertos masterfully, Ida's interpretation of britten and Walton is absolute perfection
I also forgot Szymanowski’s! My choice for those is Zehetmair/Rattle, but I also really like Baiba Skride’s with the Oslo Phil/Vasily Petrenko on Orfeo.
For anybody who might be interested and unaware (as I was prior to today), Warner Classics has a 19 CD/1 DVD box with all of Maxim Vengerov's recordings from 1991-2007 that is available with free shipping from the UK for less than $40. It has upwards of 80% of the violin concertos in David's 2 videos (19th century romantic and first half of the 20th century), plus many others along with a good bit of chamber music and some virtuoso encore pieces.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I only have 3 of the discs in it and it's got a decent amount of repertory that will be new to me, like those Britten and Walton concertos, so I jumped on it.
Thanks to Australian Eloquence, I have Hindemith's concerto played by Oistrakh and conducted by the composer. Great stuff. Eloquence also issued Der Schwanendreher, with Benyamini conducted by Barenboim. It's my favorite of the few performances I've heard. But this reminds me: I assume at some point we will get a video examining the repertoire for viola? Got to give that Mendelssohn sonata a mention. Cheers!
I'd add Miklos Rozsa's Violin Concerto (1953) to this list. Absolutely gorgeous. Also a terribly under-regarded composer in general (like Korngold, unjustly "tainted" by his association with film music)
I have a very nice disc of Rozsa by Yoel Levi and the ASO with the violin concerto played by Robert McDuffie, the cello concerto played by Lynn Harrell and a theme and variations piece with both of them. Your post reminds me I haven't listened to it in quite a while.
Yes, Rozsa's vc is underated and underplayed. I won't call it a masterpiece, but it's a lively, robust and OMG notoriously skill demanding work. Heifetz's recording is chef's kiss
I love Heifetz's recording of the Elgar concerto. He sets a mood which I love. I have Sir Charles Groves recording of The Florida Suite by Delius, it was a 60s recording with a Welsh Orchestra.
Another great list. I think the couplings are the key to folk picking a recording. I do love the Barber, Korngold, Walton: Violin Concertos by James Ehnes . Expectional value and excellent performances. My go to Shostakovich would be Mullova/Previn on Phillips. So dark and moody which certainly suits the music.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I love Hilary Hahn's Barber as well. That is a stonking disc with the coupling of Edgar Meyer's VC. If i was not mistaken he wrote it for Hann to perform.
@@mickeytheviewmoo IMHO Ehnes's Walton vc and Hahn's Barber are the best versions, glorious, humble and restrained. can't decide for the Korngold, many many great recordings.
Love the list but am amazed you did not include Szymanowski, it has the lyricism of Prokofiev and plenty of original harmonies, recommend Nicola Benedetti. Also Martinu wrote 2 fabulous concertos and also shout out to Pettersson No .2 ( symphonic length like the Elgar and similarly tortured and agonised!)
Hi, David. Thanks for your marvellous channel and sorry by my english. What do you think about the Elgar's violin concerto by Benedetti & Jurowsky? Sure, I keep on listening!
My humble opinion is its one of her finer performances on disc. Very expressive, forward sounding. Jurowski does a great job as accompany. Super recording as well. Stands up very well.
I don't like the balance of Benedetti Elgar. The orchestra is buried by the violin. I prefer sharper more exciting accompaniment, such as Solti for Chung.
Hi David, what would be your take on the violin concerto of Kurt Weill? I enjoy very much listening to this concerto. I have got 4 recordings, some of which are of Herrewehge/Glab and Christian Tetzlaff.
Surprised you didn't mention the Moeran concerto, it's a beauty. Also surprised that you can appreciate the Korngold, ultra romantic, but not the Khatchaturian, romantic, gypsy-like exciting and just as popular.
The Moeran is hardly a repertoire piece, which was the point of this list. I don't want to simply mention stuff just because it exists (for this talk)--it's about works that have achieved a certain stable level of acceptance.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I think repertoire just follows a fashion and that earns money for a while. Plus people like to be on trend, then something new gradually grabs their attention.
Another Heifetz inspired concerto, for which I have a soft spot, is by Miklos Rozsa. I think he is almost a forgotten composer who is undeservedly neglected. An interesting comparison with the more popular Hollywood composer Korngold, who used film music as foundation for his violin concerto. By contrast, Rozsa used part of his violin concerto later for film music.
Vengerov took a long time off from performing and recording, did he not? I seem to recall that he had rather injured himself--- both from a motorcycle accident (-? not sure about that-?) AND from his highly-tense postural issues... The Shostakovich #1 and #2, BTW, are paired very nicely on a scorching disk by Viktor Tretiakov.
For the Walton Violin Concerto ----Nigel Kennedy/Previn hands down!!! Especially for the finale. For Bartok No.2 -----Christian Teztlaff / Hanu Lintu For Shostakovich no.1 -----Vengerov/Rostropovich For Berg -------------Mutter/Levine Elgar--------Either of the Nigel Kennedy Recordings although preference to the 1st recording Nielsen------Vengerov/Barenboim Barber------Joshua Bell/Zinman Korngold-----Heifetz
Thank you as always for a great video. As for the ideal violin concerti for the Twentieth Century, let me add those of the following: Ernest Moeran Sir Arnold Bax Nikolai Rakov Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (Concerto Italiano) Heino Eller Eduard Tubin (no. II)
Dyson's VC is, like most of his work, unlikely to make it into any repertoire but it's one of the better never-played pieces from the period you're discussing. Neither of Piston's? His two get lots of plaudits from musical cognoscenti. Personally, I find them rather dry and unmemorable. I'm looking forward to your post-1960 survey, there are some little-known pearls amongst that lot.
Another interesting concerto would be the "Violin concerto in the gregorian manner" by Respighi.The atmosphere reminds me of the Lark Ascending by R.Vaughan Williams and both pieces were composed in 1921.The 2 composer were equally interested in pre-baroque music and some of their best pieces show very well it .I like It a lot,It has great moments and the orchestration is top notch
yes unfortunately even in his home country ,i'm Italian, it's rarely heard.The same can be said for his mixolydian piano concerto ,which is my favorite one after the Ravel and the Prokofiev 3rd...Thanks for your reply
I know that this work is not that popular or recorded or performed in concert halls, but it's a fabulous concerto IMO: Respighi's eloquent and moving Concerto gregoriano.
I presume it didn't meet your criteria for being in the repertory, but I listened to a performance of Martinu's second violin concerto on RUclips by Julia Fischer with Zinman conducting the Czech PO and thought it was fantastic. I bought the CD with Suk/Neumann/Czech PO that has both Martinu violin concertos and the rhapsody-concerto for violin and orchestra and also have it in a 4 disc box of Martinu's complete music for violin and orchestra with Matousek/Hogwood Czech PO, but haven't gotten to either of them yet. Isabelle Faust has also recorded both Martinu violin concertos.
Yes, but they are still too marginal (in my opinion) to make the list, so I was saving them for a chat about all of the Martinu concerted works with violin (Hyperion has four discs of them). They are great.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I have that box, but have only listened to the first disc of it so far. I bought it after enjoying a 4 disc Supraphon set of Martinu's complete music for violin and piano with the same violinist, Bohuslav Matousek. I think those are my favorite Martinu recordings of everything I've heard so far. I saw that you had given those violin/piano recordings 10/10 ratings when they were issued previously. Maybe you could cover both boxes in the same talk?
@@Don-md6wn A wonderful recording of both Martinů violin concertos, plus the Bartok solo sonata, has just appeared on BIS, with Frank Peter Zimmermann accompanied by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Jakub Hrůša.
@@michaelcrump7601 Thanks. I'll have to spend some time with the two I have and see if I want another one. The number of good Martinu recordings seems to be steadily growing.
Szymanowski with Zehetmair Martinu (more serious works than you’d expect) with Lorenzo Gatto and the new disc by FP Zimmermann Milhaud (also surprisingly serious) with Arabella Steinbacher Hartmann Concerto Funebre with Isabelle Faust or André Gertler Manuel Ponce with Szeryng (PS the concerti by Martinu, Milhaud and Ponce are not up there with the rest of the “greats”, but they are certainly good works. I do think the Szymanowski and Hartmann are worthy of the title “great”)
Dear David Don't you like the concert N ° 1 for violin and orchestra by the great Penderecki? He is a composer who has fascinated me since I listened to his second concert for cello and orchestra in the eighties. and I have bought everything I could, including everything from Naxos !!
@@DavesClassicalGuide Well, I thought you didn't like it enough not to include it here. My versions: Kulka / Penderecki, Scrowazewski / Stern, Kulka / Wit, Edinger / Penderecki for Thorofon and then Orpheus.
I think this list is helpful. However, I'm puzzled why the Szymanowski's violin concerti are not represented (at least #1). Certainly the glittering #1 has been widely recorded and performed for decades. There are so many fine recordings, and it remains a highly attractive work for young emerging soloists. The second concerto, his final work, deserves mention as well.
Great stuff as usual. I am curious as to why you think the Khatchaturian concerto is junk. I like it a lot but then I am not formally trained in music. Is there something objectively bad about it? It is certainly a lot better than the 'March of the Mogul Emperors' which I assume that you jokingly referred to as Elgar's greatest work.
Understandably, Elgar's concerto is unavoidable in this discussion, however, I privately avoid it as much as I can - it just bores me to death! I recall attending once a subscription concert of the Israel Philharmonic, in which no less than the great Menuhin played the work. A couple of minutes into the last movement, something went wrong with his bow - so they stopped the performance, and he went and then shortly came back with another one, and they started the finale afresh. That was, for me, and has remained since, the sole interesting thing about this work. However. However! Thank god and Elgar for giving us his cello concerto! But this is a Violin talk...
For me, It's a toss-up between Ehnes and Zehetmair (released at exactly the same time!) for the Elgar, with Zehetmair just coming in first by a nose - more imaginative and ruminative and on Elgar's wavelength. Also love Campoli and Boult now on Eloquence. The Britten and Korngold are coupled by Vilda Frang - she's an absolute knockout in both, with an almost improvisatory air in the Korngold. Sounds like she's composing it on the spot! Bell or Shaham for Barber!
@@DavesClassicalGuide I see your point. As I'm sure you know better than I, theres a new recording of both violin concertos just out - by FP Zimmermann. It's getting a lot of radio airplay here in the uk. Maybe things will change!
I am familiar with all the concertos you talk about but the Bernstein. I’ll listen to it tomorrow over coffee. My personal favorite is Walton’s. When I first heard the Walton I was stunned. Even now I am at a loss of words speaking of it. Like you, I have a special esteem for the Elgar and Nielsen concertos. Also, the Hindemith, though I love his cello concerto even more. Unlike you, I am utterly amazed by the Bartok concerto. I agree the 1st Shostakovich is the sublime masterpiece. Still, I have always been fascinated with and gravitated towards his 2nd, instead. The one concerto you mention I really dislike is the Britten. Not thrilled with his piano concerto either. One phenomena with 20th century violin concertos I have noted is how many of the greatest were written circa 1939, just prior to the Great War. On the eve of catastrophe, collectively, these concertos seem a grace note of beauty or a kind of benediction.
Hi Dave! Can’t agree about Britten’s quiet ending being any kind of mistake, let alone a BIIG one! In the context, it fades away into an angst-ridden and unresolved silence. In a good performance (Janine Jansen a few years ago at the Proms was simply scorching) it should haunt you for days. Incidentally, it appears to have been recorded 23 times, and only 3 of them are by British violinists (or 4 if you count Ida Haendel who was born Polish.) 4 Russians, 3 Germans, 2 Polish, 3 US, 1 each Norwegian, Dutch, French, Armenian, Canadian, Spanish, Czech and Irish. So not the preserve of British violinists at all!
@@stevechevis3158 Whoops! Right you are, but the intention was as explained, and not intended to suggest that ending was in any way "wrong." Thanks for giving me the chance to clarify.
The Vengerov Britten is (as someone else has already pointed out) coupled not with the Walton violin, but with the viola concerto (which I have never really warmed to). Joshua Bell made a wonderful recording of the Walton violin concerto (coupled with the Barber). The Britten is, in my opinion, the second greatest violin concerto of the 20th Century after the Berg (it's a kind of tribute to the Berg). Frank Peter Zimmermann's recording, which is excellent, is coupled with both of the Szymanowski concertos, which should be far better known (the first would make it onto my list as a 'sleeper'). My favourite recording of the Prokofievs (and the Stravisky) is by Kyung Wha Chung ( she also did a great Berg, and Bartok 2). My left field choice for a concerto not on DH's list would be the 2nd Martinu concerto (I think the 1st is a bit 'scrubby'). There's a fine recording coupled with his 4th Symphony conducted by Walter Weller.
Hi Dave, I see you didn't mention the Violin Concerto in A Minor (1952) of Gian Carlo Menotti. Glad to read that someone in the comments mentioned this work. What's your opinion of this work? I have two recordings of this work, the one with Tossy Spivakovsky, Munch and The Boston Symphony Orchestra (Naxos Historical label) & a newer recording with Ittai Shapira, Sanderling & The Russian Philharmonic Orchestra. (ASV label) Enjoy your videos very much. MUCH THANKS..... Fred
If Bernstein's 'Serenade' is really a violin concerto, do you buy into the argument that his second symphony 'Age of Anxiety' is really a piano concerto?
@@Quotenwagnerianer I'm sorry, but no. It does get played, and recorded enough for my purposes. I'm not disputing the quality, just the reality of recordings/performances.
Great list! I would also nominate: Szymanowski (as have many others, I see -- and Rattle, on Szymanowski, is one of the very few areas where he's worth a look!). I've also recently discovered the Vaughan Williams "Concerto Accademico" (James Buswell, with Previn/LSO) -- somewhat reminiscent of the Stravinsky and a great piece!
Dave, I thought for sure you were going to include at least one of Szymanowski's concertos in this list, but I see you talked about both his concertos elsewhere.
Hugh Bean studied the with Albert Sammons who played it with Elgar. My violin teacher was classmate and good friend of Bean. They both played in the Philharmonia . Bean was the leader in the great days of Karajan and Klemperer.
As an unashamed Bax junkie, I have to admit he struggled with concerto form. The closest he came to writing a decent concerto was his for cello. Both the violin and viola pieces (he called the latter a Phantasy) are pretty feeble and the two big piano works (Winter Legends and Symphonic Variations) are more like tone poems or symphonies. I can't see his violin concerto entering any major violinist's repertoire.
Igor Oistrakh not that good! The Best violinist of All Time Are really Guila Bustabo ( The Queen Tiger Power) Viktor Tretjakov ( The King! The greatest ever!). Jascha Heifetz ( The Sound!!) Itzhak Perlman Leonid Kogan Miriam Fried Gidon Kremer
What a list! Now, could someone please lend me a few extra hours in the day to listen to them all in addition to everything else? Excellent performance choices too, many of which were radio favorites. I'd go for Zina Schiff and Serebrier in the Bloch for that extra degree of expression and commitment. Besides, I have a thing for Jewish women, but that’s just me. For an additional treat, check out the beautifully produced RUclips of the Korngold with William Hagen, Christoph Eschenbach and the Frankfurt RS.
Favorite modern violin concertos: Elgar Stravinsky Weill Schoenberg Bloch Barber Hindemith Martinu 2 Roy Harris Shostakovich 1 & 2 Rozsa Bernstein - Serenade And for an encore -- RAVEL'S TZIGANE!! Love it!
So glad to see Hindemith and Bernstein on the list. These videos are really enjoyable, informative, and thought-provoking. One word on the next list: Ligeti.
Yes!! By all means. Such a great work!
Agreed
Definitely! Also, I would highly recommend: John Adams.
...wanted to here this Talk for the third go around for a while. Many thx
Thank you for mentioning the Hindemith, much neglected, first performed at the Concertgebouw in 1940 and never played there since, also never played at the BBC Proms. It was given its first commercial recording by Joseph Fuchs, a fine violinist, and recorded since by many, including Oistrakh Gitlis Stern Kavakos and others. It is beautiful piece, scored for a large orchestra over which the violin sings beautifully, and is notable for the wonderful woodwind writing. Thank you again.
I'm very relieved to see Elgar included, was worried you thought it was crap. I think it's the greatest violin concerto ever written and I'll die alone on this hill if I have to.
I don't think it's worth dying for, but I do think it's probably Elgar's greatest work in many respects.
I'm glad you haven't mentioned Reger, zzzz. I would add on the list Martinů 2nd concerto, love it!
The Suk/Ancerl recording of the Berg concerto is fabulous and very clearly recorded.
Agreed, I have never quite got into the Berg Concerto in the way that I was told you were supposed to. This performance did it for me - the clarity, the tunefuness, the intensity, it's all there.
I love these IDEAL videos. They're so much fun! Anyway, here's my choices for IDEAL 20th Century violin concerto performances:
Elgar: Yehudi Menuhin, LSO under Elgar, himself. Such a classic performance! Menuhin was only 16 and in amazing form. From 1932 so don't expect perfect sonics
Berg & Brittten: Daniel Hope, from 2003. Really beautiful
Stravinsky: Isaac Stern conducted by the composer. My absolute favorite!
Prokofiev - both concertos - Gil Shaham under Previn. So lyrical! Dazzling
Bartok - both concertos - Isabelle Faust. Idiomatic and passionate. Not a bit of chill.
Shostakovich No. 1 - Vengerov under Rostrapovich. It comes with an excellent Prokofiev No. 1 or you can get it with the second Shostakovich. It'll burn your house down.
Barber/Korngold - James Ehnes. I love the Shaham, too, but this one is also excellent.
Hindemith - Oistrahk under the composer. The definitive version in my opinion.
Bernstein - Hilary Hahn. She is a force of nature. Gorgeous!
NOTE: I'm not a fan of Nielsen. I like Bloch but don't know his violin concerto.
Here is my list (with out violinist repetition)
Znaider, Elgar (avec Davis)
Liya Petrova, Nielsen
Bress Hyman, Bloch
Blacher Kolja, Berg (avec Abbado)
Baiba Stride, Stravinsky
Renaud Capucon, Bartok II
Julia Fischer, Prokofiev I
Mullova, Prokofiev II (her 2e version)
Oistrakh, Hindermidth
Chung Kyung-Wha, Walton
Marwood, Britten
Benedetti, Shostakovich I
Shaham, Korngold
Ehnes, Barber
Hilary Hahn, Benstein serenade
and I think you should include those:
Danczowska, Szymanowki I
Erxleben, Hartmann cto funèbre
Faust, Schoenberg (actuall I prefer Blacher)
Kogan, Weinberg
Szeryng, Szymanowki II
Gatto, Martinu II
Khachatryan, Kachaturian
Thanks for doing this because I love so many 20th century violin concertos both before and after 1960. Here’s my list:
Elgar - Ehnes/BBC Orch of Wales, but Kennedy/Handley is my first choice except I’m saving Kennedy for Walton.
Nielsen - either your choice of Lin/Salonen or Znaider/Gilbert. Lin is coupled with one of my favorite Sibelius recordings and Znaider with great performances of the Nielsen wind concertos.
Bloch - I haven’t heard for years and don’t have a recording now, but remember hearing Roman Totenberg play it and I really liked it, so I’ll have to add it to my “to get” list. However, I will substitute one here that is also wonderful and rarely performed: Frank Martin’s with Baiba Skride and the BBCNOW/Thierry Fischer on Orfeo that is coupled with an equally fine Stravinsky concerto. The beginning of the Martin is obviously influenced by the beginning of Schubert’s Unfinished (1st mvt)
Berg - so many great ones! I’m picking Daniel Hope with the BBCSO/Paul Watkins on Warner coupled with an excellent Britten concerto, though I could have also chosen Zehetmair coupled with Hartmann’s wonderful Concerto funebre and the so-called Janacek concerto. Among several others!
Bartok - 2 probably the 20th C violin concerto I like best! Have many recordings, but will choose Zehetmair/Fischer now on Brilliant Classics for both concertos though I really think he wrote only 1! For his great one I’ll choose Mullova/Salonen for the original version with the terrific brassy ending again coupled with an equally great Stravinsky concerto. If you want both the original and revised finales there is always Zukerman/Slatkin if it is still available.
Hindemith: a greatly underrated masterpiece - Stern/Bernstein now coupled with Penderecki 1 or a recent one that’s almost as fine with Zimmermann and the Frankfurt RSO/P. Järvi on BIS that includes 4 of his violin sonatas as well.
Walton - Kennedy/Previn with an equally great Viola Concerto which is hands down my favorite Walton work, i.e., the Viola Concerto!
Prokofiev: 1 and 2 with Gil Shaham and the LSO/Previn or Vengerov/Rostropovich coupled on 2 separate CDs with terrific accounts of both Shostakovich concertos. For #2 alone, the wild Kopatchinskaja with the LPO/Jurowski also containing my current first choice for the Stravinsky.
Shostakovich: both concertos (I like the second as much as the first) Ibragimova/Jurowski or Vengerov listed above. Tetzlaff/Storgards on Ondine is also worth considering for a valid non-Russian view!
Barber - Takezawa/Slatkin or Oliveira/Slatkin, but Stern/Bernstein is still my favorite.
Bernstein Serenade: Anne Akiko Myers with BBCSSO/Volkov on a BBC Music disc.
Korngold - though I don’t consider it a major concerto - also on a BBC Music cover disc with Jack Liebeck and the Ulster Orch/Paul Watkins.
I would like to have seen the Frank Martin Violin Concerto on this list, but was very pleased to see the Bloch, a personal favorite.
I outlined my criteria for selection and much as I love Martin, it doesn't fit.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Wasn't it it within your date parameters? It was premiered in 1952, I believe. Or am I mistaken?
@@DavesClassicalGuide Written in 1951, according to Mr. Internet.
@@colintalcroft6394 Within the dates but, more importantly, generally seen as part of the active repertoire, either through regular recordings or live performances. I don't see that this qualifies, and it sucks because it's a great work. First class in every way.
This is great! Thanks! I love both Prokofiev concertos, grew up on the Oistrakh/Galliera (Angel LP with a wonderful Mozart 3d on the flip) recording of the beautiful & mysterious #2, didn't hear #1 until much later. I think #1 is the masterpiece. Cho-Liang Lin (with Salonen) has a fine CD of the pair, with the Stravinsky. As for Berg: Szerying/Kubelik was my intro & I still love it.
Great topic and splendid list! I would urge several American additions: Sessions and Schuman (both with Paul Zukofsky). Especially the Schuman, which has a discography that attests to the work's appeal and justifies its inclusion. And after 1960, the list of great American violin concertos really grows (the video on post-1960 violin concertos can't come soon enough for me). On a related note, please, please do an ideal list of great American symphonies. It is much needed.
I forgot to add my agreement with commenter Don to add to the list Martinu's 2nd violin concerto - inexhaustibly great (both the work and the composer).
Yes to the Schuman. Not familiar with the Sessions
Thanks for another great discussion. I like the romantic repertoire more than the 20th century modern one, but you definitely aroused my curiosity, especially about the shostakovich concerto. I will definitely look for it.
And although it is not a concerto but only a short piece for violin and orchestra, I really like vaughan williams lark ascending. Heard it with Jansen and hahn, and loved both versions. And of course the piece itself is so beautiful and sweet and touching.
Good point. The Elgar doesn't feel like a "20th century" piece, yet isn't showy and romantic, and The Lark Ascending is very striking and unique. The Sibelius also feels "on the cusp", maybe some similarities to the Nielsen.
I am so glad you picked the Gil Shaham version of Korngold/Barber. A magnificent disc. But, I also really like the Nicolaj Znaider Korngold/Brahms disc. Magnificent and I think he makes more music in the Korngold slow movement than any other recording I know.
Shaham is fantastic in the Korngold. I wish HH would record it commercially. Her performance on RUclips is fantastic and IMO the only one that can compete with Shaham.
Thanks for all these videos - they're great!
Great video Dave, as always. Thank you.
Thank you for mentioning the Bernstein Serenade. It is a major concerto that serves as one reminder that Bernstein composed quite a few significant works in addition to West Side Story. On RUclips, there is a terrific performance by Janine Jansen. Cheers.
The Hindemith concerto is the most neglected masterpiece of all violin concerti. So warm, virtuosic, beautiful, symphonic. You mention briefly the Kavakos recording on Chandon with YPT which is fantastic BUT the standout is the newer recording with FP Zimmermann and Paavo. Check it out... fabulous. There is an amazing performance with them on the Berlin Phil Digital Concert Hall.
Walton himself considered the cello concerto his finest concerto, and while it is quite fine, I think the violin concerto is the best (both the violin and cello concerti are certainly better than the viola concerto... ) James Ehnes and Joshua Bell’s Walton recordings for me...
I love this review. Is very interesting to hear about so much information of violin concertos. May I suggest the beautiful concerto of the Finish composer Rautavaara. (Hans de Jong)
Thanks, but not on this talk. Rautavaara is too late.
This background gives me flashbacks to your early videos. What happened to your tam-tam? Is it in repair? Was it Pipo who broke it after her newfound fame got to her head?
Just a change of scenery now and then...
Thank you, Dave, for another wonderful video on violin concertos. Slightly off topic, you mention a couple of times that soft endings are the kiss of death for many classical works. It occurs to me, though, that a number of operas end quietly and quite successfully. Some of Verdi's most beautiful endings come with Boccanegra, Aida, and Forza and are all quite beautiful. So with Wagner's Walkure and Tristan. And Eugene Onegin also ends quite softly and suddenly. I don't know if comparing opera endings with other kind of endings is valid or not -- just thinking about quiet endings. Wesley
Interesting and very valid point! I think the difference is that in opera we've seen a story unfold and the ending is justified in terms of the dramatic arc of the plot. Symphonies theoretically do the same thing--I have no problem with quiet endings and fine them equally justified, but audiences often don't hear them that way and the artists was a dazzling ending to maximize the applause.
Fully agree with le list..the best matches out there!
Vengerov had a shoulder injury in 2005, and he took a 3-year break from playing beginning in 2008, which some believe was due to the inury (Vengerov said he took time off to study conducting).
Your's is a perfect list, so I just have to add some concertos I like very much.
- One of the more often recorded is the "Concerto funebre" for violin and strings by the bavarian Karl Amadeus Hartmann. Stylistically it has to do with Berg, Bartók and Hindemith. I recommend the recording with Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Rafael Kubelik on Orfeo (live) or the one with André Gertler and Karel Ancerl (Supraphon, absolutely fantastic in its expressivety, but out of print, I fear). There are also other fine recordings of the work; Penderecki, who understood the dark and tragic tone very well, recorded it with Christiane Edinger, and one gets the beautiful Szymanowski / 1-concerto, too.
- Not often recorded, alas, but a sleeper of great violin concertos is in my opinion the one by the US-composer Louis Gruenberg. There is just one recording, recorded in 1945, Jascha Heifetz plays the solo part, Monteux is the conductor; the sound is not really good, alas. I cannot understand, why no violinist cares about this full blooded work. On Naxos it's coupled with Prokofiev / 2.
- More often recorded is the Concerto by Gian Carlo Menotti, which is in the same vein as Korngold's and Barber's. The best recording seems to me the one by Tossy Spivakovsky and Charles Munch, but it is mono and technically not top. On Naxos it's coupled with Menottis opera "Maria Golovin", and I can imagine, that this opera makes fine dreams for Pippo. A newer, technically better recording comes from Ruggero Ricci (violin) and Keith Clark on Reference, coupled with Barbers.
- And here is a sleeper, and I guarantee, it's fantastic! The polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz was a violinist herself, but in the first place an immensely gifted composer. She developed from a quasi hindemithian style step after step to a modernist language. She handeled the violin concerto as other composers the symphony, as medium for aspects of expression unified by a certain state of mind. She wrote 7 violin concertos (yes, indeed, seven! But it's a strange case with the 6th, being never performed and never published). The 1st (1937), being influenced by Hindemith and Shostakovich, has got more attention than the others, I guess, but my favourite is the 3rd (1948). Oh, what a work! Stylistically, it has to do with Bartók, it opens with a melody like a plain chant, then gets more and more tension. The 2nd movement is a gorgeous Andante with a heartfelt melodic warmth and the 3rd is a virtuoso finale with rhythmic drive. The recording one gets easiest, and which is very good, is the one on Chandos with Joanna Kurkowicz and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Lukasz Borowicz. It's coupled with Bacewicz's concertos 1 and 7 (the last in a very modernist neo-expressionist style), and you get the Ouverture for orchestra (1943): Play it to your friends as the "omitted movement" from Bartóks "Concerto for Orchestra" - they'll believe you!
Oh, yes, I just forgot to add: The concerto, which really becomes interesting only in the 20th century, is in my opinion the one for cello. In the romantic repertoire, there is just one really good cello concerto, the Dvorák, of course. But in the 20th century, all composers seem to have hoped that Rostropovich plays them. And he did more often than not...
Glad you mentioned the outstanding Concerto Funebre. Dont know how often it’s played in the States.
@@AlexMadorsky Ît's considerably well covered on recordings, I'd say. E.g. Zehetmair did it with the Berg, Holliger conducting and there are more recent ones. I am also missing Szymanowski, they were mentioned further above. As for somewhat exotic "ones" (but IMO not more so than Bloch or Bernstein), I'd nominate
Reger (almost as long as the Elgar and also too long), Schönberg, Khatchaturian, Kabalevsky, Weill. And for postromantics similar to Korngold: Wolf-Ferrari, Dohnanyi, Rosza (recorded by Heifetz).
Absolutely agree about the Gertler. A classic disc
Thanks Dave. A great list and looking forward to the more extended talks about eg the Berg, which is the greatest of all of them I think. I do think you could have squishes Martinu’s second concerto in there as it’s been performed and recorded as much as the Hindemith im sure. The britt n concerto gets played a lot these days, at least here, and way way more than Elgar etc. Not sure what you mean about the Barton second either - it gets done a lot in concert, way more than eg Bernstein or Korngold (it’s my taste I guess but both of those seem way overrated works in any case)
FABULOUS recommendations of towering musical masterpieces, thank you! May I commend to your attention the Sergey Khachatryan Shostakovich 1st? We are on another planet with this one!
Considering myself to be a fan of Arnold Schoenberg I have to admit his violin concerto isn't one of my favourites yet. However you had to include it in this chat. You can't deny, that it's part of the standard repertoire today.
No, actually, it isn't, and it never has been.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Well, I heard it at the Berliner Philharmonie with Christian Tetzlaff, RSB (not the Ensemble InterContemporain or something like that) and Vladimir Jurowski. And I'm not going to concerts quite often.
@@Sulsfort Lucky you!
Great list! I have an admittedly strange fave recording of the Berg concerto - Sinopoli and Staatskapelle Dresdon w/Reiko Watanabe on Teldec. I think it's incredible - weighty, lyrical, wonderfully deep recorded sound. Never understood the hate Sinopoli got...
Bought the perlman/ ozawa disk a month ago at an estate sale. Great playing.
Nice of u taking up the Nielsen as I feel its a bit neglcted, probably because its too long and difficult, but as u said the material is totally fresh Nielsen style at its best
Another great list David! I’m so pleased that you mentioned Bloch! His two violin sonatas are also grossly underrated in my opinion. Likewise with Hindemith’s violin works in general! I wonder if you might also do a later talk on some contemporary violin concertos as there have been some great ones in recent years? For me Ades, Adams, Higdon, Kernis and Meyer are worth a mention amongst several others.
That's the problem. Just about anything that has been recorded in the past few decades is "worth a mention." Of course, I know what I like, but I'd prefer to give it some time.
@@DavesClassicalGuide You adopted the same approach in your Tippett Piano Concerto talk - and I totally agree with it. We need a sufficient temporal perspective. That reminds me of the following vignette: one of the former defence ministers of China was once asked of his opinion (security-wise) of the Great Wall. He thought for a moment, then replied: "Too soon to tell".
A video on the Walton Viola Concerto would be great. It's a terrific piece and the Vengerov-Rostropovich version a terrific version.
I think you should have included the powerful recording by Paul Zukovsky/ Michael Gilson Thomas/BSO of William Schuman's Violin Concerto (1947)!
Never. It's not a repertory piece by any stretch of the imagination.
I agree, love this big, dynamic, beautiful, angular, quintessential post war American concerto with its jazz influences. Zukovsky understood and is unbeatable. Tilson Thomas excellent in Piston 2nd Symphony too. Fabulous spacious 1970 BSO recording by DG.
A dream recording would have Isabel Faust coupling of the WIlliam Schuman with the the Hindemith 1939 Violin Concerto. I'm not holding my breath.
I think it's a masterpiece. I actually think Robert McDuffie with Slatkin is even better than Zukovsky. Is Bloch a repertory piece?
I'd love to see a list that branches out from the norm-core of Central European/US composers (adding in UK & Russia) to include some of the marvellous repertoire that is frequently performed and recorded outside of those centres, but which often misses the eye of critics from the core geographies. Too often they are forced into the rut of being "nationalist" composers e.g. Armenia and the former Soviet republics, the Baltics, and even Australia (Ross Edwards: Violin Concerto "Maninyas" is gorgeous and rhythmically exciting, and I think has had at least four recordings.)
DH...Love these videos. BTW,is it that time of the year for the best recording of “The Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky. Lol,right now I’m listening to the recording by Simon Rattle/BPO and I actually like it. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!
I imprinted on Termirkanov/Royal Philharmonic - love the Rattle one too but it'll never compare in my mind! Maybe DH can convince me of a new favourite!
David did a video a while back on Slatkin's bargain box of the 3 complete major Tchaikovsky ballets with the St. Louis SO. I bought it and have listened to the Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty so far. Both are great in terms of both performance and sound. For another take on the Nutcracker suite, I really like the two piano recording with Argerich and Economou that is paired with a great Tchaikovsky PC #1 with Argerich/Abbado/Berlin.
But my favorite(I think) is Antal Dorato/LSO on Mercy Living Presence. I also have the Jarvi
Thank you. You too!
Thank you. I guess I’missed that one. I’m still going back to get to the ones I’ve missed.
I LOVE the Britten violin concerto and Nielsen concerto, and am glad to see them represented.
I would have included the Schoenberg but I know you aren't a fan of all his stuff. For the contemporary list, I hope you'll talk about Dutilleux.
I actually like the Schoenberg, but it's not a repertory work by any stretch of the imagination.
I'm going to add my two cents about a piece I like, probably because my mother dropped me on my head when I was a baby.
I know the Schoenberg Violin Concerto is rarely played. I also know it is very difficult to play and a challenge for audiences (to put it mildly).
Not that long ago, there were no really excellent recordings of it. Zeitlin's was ugly, Baker's was patched together from a million takes, and the rest were worse.
Now, however, there are at least two really excellent versions, Hillary Hahn and Isabelle Faust.
I'm not criticising anybody for not wanting to include it. I get it totally.
I also love the Schoenberg and would suggest Hilary Hahn's fabulous DG recording.
@@thomcook8570 I have a great Schoenberg Violin Concerto story.
Back in ca. 1988, Christian Tetzlaff played the Schoenberg in Cleveland with Dohnanyi. He had studied in Cincinnati when I was there, so I knew him, and I drove from Cincinnati to Cleveland to hear the concert. He played brilliantly and the orchestra sounded great too - I couldn't play the piece, but I knew it almost by heart.
So after the concert I'm standing in line to congratulate him. And Rudolf Serkin is standing in line in front of me. When Serkin got to Tetzlaff, he said "thank you for one of the greatest musical experiences of my life," and walked away. And there I stood - I told him "Well, I guess it doesn't matter what I say now." And the funny bit is that Christian did not know who it was - he had only seen him in older photographs. I had to explain it was Serkin, and he couldn't believe it. Christian Tetzlaff could not have been much more than 20 years old at the time.
I love your talks, and I am rather amazed at how similar our preferences are in so many of the works and performances you have chosen. I hope that you will do a 20th Century cello concerto ideal repertoire that will consider, among many, Elgar, Walton, Honegger, Frank Martin, Frank Bridge (Oration), Shostakovich, Bloch, Barber and the lesser known Jongen, Tansman (gorgeous), and Schoeck.
An unexpected (by me if not my peers) surfacing of very interesting CM history. Not to mention your lovely Rex. Thanks again for another🎯vid!
All of those concertos are absolutely great ones (Berg's concerto is my favourite of all repertoire), but for me a list of 20th century violin concertos must include Szymanowski's two. They are amazing masterpieces.
And for the recordings of them I will recommend Danczowska/Kord and Zimmermann/Wit. Both discs are outstanding.
David, as for the Walton concerto, Vengerov recorded the Viola concerto, not the violin one. For the violin, I'd go to Chung/Previn.
Yes, I would include at least Szymanowski No. 1, but they are both great. I mentioned the Vengerov in the text accompanying the video--it got mixed up with Haendel, but possibly fortuitously. Now I'll have to do a Viola Concerto video!
@@DavesClassicalGuide , and it will be quite good, as usual!!!
I saw Ivan Zenaty do one of the Szymanowski concertos in Prague a while back. He brought the house down.
@@marknewkirk4322 , Zenaty is so an amazing violinist
I think Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Concert funèbre is one of the great violin concertos of that era as well. It's not a repertoire piece, but I think it should be. At least there are quite a few recordings, my favourite being the Wolfgang Schneiderhan-/Rafael Kubelík performance on Orfeo.
A big shoutout for Heifetz in Elgar concerto. Wow, how I adore that recording! Still incredibly exciting after possibly hundreds of listenings. Two modern versions I like are with Philippe Graffin and Thomas Zehetmair.
In Bartók 2nd we have a giant of a performance and it is of course Ivry Gitlis.
So glad you gave a shout for Nielsen's undeservedly neglected concerto. As for Khachaturian's - yes, it is awful. Enough said. Loved the rest of the presentation. You always manage to give a useful new perspective on the evolution of music and musical genres.
Hello David, I really apprciate your lively, funny and enlightening vidéos on a daily basis. They are a real treat.
I admire especially, your generous and tireless advocacy of Karel Ancerl, a
great conductor, I had the opportunity to hear in Toronto at the old Massey Hall.
I am also looking forward to your overview of The Nutcracker. If you do, I hope you will have a few kind words for the venerable but still classy and enjoyable Ansermet recording with the OSR, well refurbished by Eoquenece Australia.
Vengerov's Britten is actually coupled with the Walton viola concerto, not the violin one. I don't think Vengerov ever recorded the Walton violin concerto. Ida Haendel's is an example of a Walton and Britten violin concerto cd coupling (and a very fine one too!)
Not only are you right, but I noticed that before I made the video then forgot about it entirely. Thanks for pointing out the error! I had meant to grab Haendel then got distracted. So yes, by all means, go for Haendel! It's great.
Benjamin britten and Walton themselves thanked ida haendel for playing their concertos masterfully, Ida's interpretation of britten and Walton is absolute perfection
What about Szymanowski's concerti? I think they should definitely be included and I like Frank Peter Zimmerman's recordings of them with Antoni Wit
Mentioned already, noted, and I agree wholeheartedly!
I also forgot Szymanowski’s! My choice for those is Zehetmair/Rattle, but I also really like Baiba Skride’s with the Oslo Phil/Vasily Petrenko on Orfeo.
For anybody who might be interested and unaware (as I was prior to today), Warner Classics has a 19 CD/1 DVD box with all of Maxim Vengerov's recordings from 1991-2007 that is available with free shipping from the UK for less than $40. It has upwards of 80% of the violin concertos in David's 2 videos (19th century romantic and first half of the 20th century), plus many others along with a good bit of chamber music and some virtuoso encore pieces.
Including the coupling of Britten/Walton with the latter's Viola (not Violin) Concerto. I have that box.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I only have 3 of the discs in it and it's got a decent amount of repertory that will be new to me, like those Britten and Walton concertos, so I jumped on it.
@@Don-md6wn Great. Have fun with them!
Thanks to Australian Eloquence, I have Hindemith's concerto played by Oistrakh and conducted by the composer. Great stuff.
Eloquence also issued Der Schwanendreher, with Benyamini conducted by Barenboim. It's my favorite of the few performances I've heard. But this reminds me: I assume at some point we will get a video examining the repertoire for viola? Got to give that Mendelssohn sonata a mention. Cheers!
Agree the Hindemith is a great concerto. Strong and very lyrical.
I'd add Miklos Rozsa's Violin Concerto (1953) to this list. Absolutely gorgeous. Also a terribly under-regarded composer in general (like Korngold, unjustly "tainted" by his association with film music)
I agree--a lovely work, but it only exists on disc, and then barely. What a shame! Thanks for mentioning it.
I have a very nice disc of Rozsa by Yoel Levi and the ASO with the violin concerto played by Robert McDuffie, the cello concerto played by Lynn Harrell and a theme and variations piece with both of them. Your post reminds me I haven't listened to it in quite a while.
Yes, Rozsa's vc is underated and underplayed. I won't call it a masterpiece, but it's a lively, robust and OMG notoriously skill demanding work. Heifetz's recording is chef's kiss
I love Heifetz's recording of the Elgar concerto. He sets a mood which I love. I have Sir Charles Groves recording of The Florida Suite by Delius, it was a 60s recording with a Welsh Orchestra.
Don’t forget the Delius. Sammons recording is packed for my desert island trip.
You don't want me to comment on that...hehehe.
Another great list. I think the couplings are the key to folk picking a recording. I do love the Barber, Korngold, Walton: Violin Concertos
by James Ehnes . Expectional value and excellent performances. My go to Shostakovich would be Mullova/Previn on Phillips. So dark and moody which certainly suits the music.
I agree with you. Ehnes is fantastic.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I love Hilary Hahn's Barber as well. That is a stonking disc with the coupling of Edgar Meyer's VC. If i was not mistaken he wrote it for Hann to perform.
@@mickeytheviewmoo IMHO Ehnes's Walton vc and Hahn's Barber are the best versions, glorious, humble and restrained. can't decide for the Korngold, many many great recordings.
Love the list but am amazed you did not include Szymanowski, it has the lyricism of Prokofiev and plenty of original harmonies, recommend Nicola Benedetti.
Also Martinu wrote 2 fabulous concertos and also shout out to Pettersson No .2 ( symphonic length like the Elgar and similarly tortured and agonised!)
I like to amaze people.
Hi, David. Thanks for your marvellous channel and sorry by my english. What do you think about the Elgar's violin concerto by Benedetti & Jurowsky?
Sure, I keep on listening!
Thanks for commenting. Your English is fine. I haven't heard that performance yet, but I will listen to it. Have you heard it? What do you think?
My humble opinion is its one of her finer performances on disc. Very expressive, forward sounding. Jurowski does a great job as accompany. Super recording as well. Stands up very well.
@David Hurwitz I listened it only once recently but, like @Richard Scott says, I think t's a very good job. Thanks again.
I don't like the balance of Benedetti Elgar. The orchestra is buried by the violin. I prefer sharper more exciting accompaniment, such as Solti for Chung.
Hi David, what would be your take on the violin concerto of Kurt Weill? I enjoy very much listening to this concerto. I have got 4 recordings, some of which are of Herrewehge/Glab and Christian Tetzlaff.
I don't think it's especially attractive or enjoyable. Sorry.
Surprised you didn't mention the Moeran concerto, it's a beauty. Also surprised that you can appreciate the Korngold, ultra romantic, but not the Khatchaturian, romantic, gypsy-like exciting and just as popular.
Yes i agree, Dave obviously does not like the Khachaturian concerto but has been well recorded and a lot of folk do like it. Shame
The Moeran is hardly a repertoire piece, which was the point of this list. I don't want to simply mention stuff just because it exists (for this talk)--it's about works that have achieved a certain stable level of acceptance.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I think repertoire just follows a fashion and that earns money for a while. Plus people like to be on trend, then something new gradually grabs their attention.
@@davidbreeze7425 Probably, but it is what it is and there's enough great stuff out there that I don't worry about it. People have to start somewhere.
Another Heifetz inspired concerto, for which I have a soft spot, is by Miklos Rozsa. I think he is almost a forgotten composer who is undeservedly neglected. An interesting comparison with the more popular Hollywood composer Korngold, who used film music as foundation for his violin concerto. By contrast, Rozsa used part of his violin concerto later for film music.
Already mentioned.
The line drawn @ 1960 is so well judged! And your choice comes as surprising and obvious at the same time.
Vengerov took a long time off from performing and recording, did he not? I seem to recall that he had rather injured himself--- both from a motorcycle accident (-? not sure about that-?) AND from his highly-tense postural issues...
The Shostakovich #1 and #2, BTW, are paired very nicely on a scorching disk by Viktor Tretiakov.
For the Walton Violin Concerto ----Nigel Kennedy/Previn hands down!!! Especially for the finale.
For Bartok No.2 -----Christian Teztlaff / Hanu Lintu
For Shostakovich no.1 -----Vengerov/Rostropovich
For Berg -------------Mutter/Levine
Elgar--------Either of the Nigel Kennedy Recordings although preference to the 1st recording
Nielsen------Vengerov/Barenboim
Barber------Joshua Bell/Zinman
Korngold-----Heifetz
I wonder whether you will ever do a review of the Walton Viola Concerto? A magnificent but rather neglected piece.
Thank you as always for a great video.
As for the ideal violin concerti for the Twentieth Century, let me add those of the following:
Ernest Moeran
Sir Arnold Bax
Nikolai Rakov
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (Concerto Italiano)
Heino Eller
Eduard Tubin (no. II)
Dyson's VC is, like most of his work, unlikely to make it into any repertoire but it's one of the better never-played pieces from the period you're discussing. Neither of Piston's? His two get lots of plaudits from musical cognoscenti. Personally, I find them rather dry and unmemorable. I'm looking forward to your post-1960 survey, there are some little-known pearls amongst that lot.
Another interesting concerto would be the "Violin concerto in the gregorian manner" by Respighi.The atmosphere reminds me of the Lark Ascending by R.Vaughan Williams and both pieces were composed in 1921.The 2 composer were equally interested in pre-baroque music and some of their best pieces show very well it .I like It a lot,It has great moments and the orchestration is top notch
Yes, but again, it's hardly a repertory piece--it barely gets recorded, lovely as it is.
yes unfortunately even in his home country ,i'm Italian, it's rarely heard.The same can be said for his mixolydian piano concerto ,which is my favorite one after the Ravel and the Prokofiev 3rd...Thanks for your reply
I know that this work is not that popular or recorded or performed in concert halls, but it's a fabulous concerto IMO: Respighi's eloquent and moving Concerto gregoriano.
Exactly. You're scraping the bottom of the barrel there.
You know that real connoisseurs watch your videos when 155 comments are made and no one mentions the Khachaturian. Good job everyone!
I think they did before we got to 150, but I take your point!
What's your opinion on the Carney/Bakels version of the Nielsen concerto? Thank you.
It's very good--actually, that's a very enjoyable disc generally.
I agree. It gives the listener a wonderful overview of Nielsen' output for solo instrument and orchestra. Thanks for the input.
I presume it didn't meet your criteria for being in the repertory, but I listened to a performance of Martinu's second violin concerto on RUclips by Julia Fischer with Zinman conducting the Czech PO and thought it was fantastic. I bought the CD with Suk/Neumann/Czech PO that has both Martinu violin concertos and the rhapsody-concerto for violin and orchestra and also have it in a 4 disc box of Martinu's complete music for violin and orchestra with Matousek/Hogwood Czech PO, but haven't gotten to either of them yet. Isabelle Faust has also recorded both Martinu violin concertos.
Yes, but they are still too marginal (in my opinion) to make the list, so I was saving them for a chat about all of the Martinu concerted works with violin (Hyperion has four discs of them). They are great.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I have that box, but have only listened to the first disc of it so far. I bought it after enjoying a 4 disc Supraphon set of Martinu's complete music for violin and piano with the same violinist, Bohuslav Matousek. I think those are my favorite Martinu recordings of everything I've heard so far. I saw that you had given those violin/piano recordings 10/10 ratings when they were issued previously. Maybe you could cover both boxes in the same talk?
@@Don-md6wn A wonderful recording of both Martinů violin concertos, plus the Bartok solo sonata, has just appeared on BIS, with Frank Peter Zimmermann accompanied by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Jakub Hrůša.
@@michaelcrump7601 Thanks. I'll have to spend some time with the two I have and see if I want another one. The number of good Martinu recordings seems to be steadily growing.
Szymanowski with Zehetmair
Martinu (more serious works than you’d expect) with Lorenzo Gatto and the new disc by FP Zimmermann
Milhaud (also surprisingly serious) with Arabella Steinbacher
Hartmann Concerto Funebre with Isabelle Faust or André Gertler
Manuel Ponce with Szeryng
(PS the concerti by Martinu, Milhaud and Ponce are not up there with the rest of the “greats”, but they are certainly good works. I do think the Szymanowski and Hartmann are worthy of the title “great”)
I agree.
Dear David
Don't you like the concert N ° 1 for violin and orchestra by the great Penderecki? He is a composer who has fascinated me since I listened to his second concert for cello and orchestra in the eighties. and I have bought everything I could, including everything from Naxos !!
Why would I not like it?
@@DavesClassicalGuide Well, I thought you didn't like it enough not to include it here. My versions: Kulka / Penderecki, Scrowazewski / Stern, Kulka / Wit, Edinger / Penderecki for Thorofon and then Orpheus.
What’s the Elgar box you mentioned with Bean/Groves? I can’t find it.
It was a big "composer edition" series, probably out of print by now unfortunately. There was a Vaughan Williams box too.
I think this list is helpful. However, I'm puzzled why the Szymanowski's violin concerti are not represented (at least #1). Certainly the glittering #1 has been widely recorded and performed for decades. There are so many fine recordings, and it remains a highly attractive work for young emerging soloists. The second concerto, his final work, deserves mention as well.
Please look at the comments. This has been discussed.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks, Dave. I didn't carefully scan the other comments.
Great stuff as usual. I am curious as to why you think the Khatchaturian concerto is junk. I like it a lot but then I am not formally trained in music. Is there something objectively bad about it? It is certainly a lot better than the 'March of the Mogul Emperors' which I assume that you jokingly referred to as Elgar's greatest work.
No, I was just kidding around. I really don't like it, but that doesn't make it bad--just my opinion.
Understandably, Elgar's concerto is unavoidable in this discussion, however, I privately avoid it as much as I can - it just bores me to death! I recall attending once a subscription concert of the Israel Philharmonic, in which no less than the great Menuhin played the work. A couple of minutes into the last movement, something went wrong with his bow - so they stopped the performance, and he went and then shortly came back with another one, and they started the finale afresh. That was, for me, and has remained since, the sole interesting thing about this work.
However. However! Thank god and Elgar for giving us his cello concerto! But this is a Violin talk...
For me, It's a toss-up between Ehnes and Zehetmair (released at exactly the same time!) for the Elgar, with Zehetmair just coming in first by a nose - more imaginative and ruminative and on Elgar's wavelength. Also love Campoli and Boult now on Eloquence. The Britten and Korngold are coupled by Vilda Frang - she's an absolute knockout in both, with an almost improvisatory air in the Korngold. Sounds like she's composing it on the spot! Bell or Shaham for Barber!
Great - but knowing your predelictions I was expecting a steer towards a good Martinu concerto(s) recording. Dont you rate them?
There are several, and it's a separate talk. They are still too rarely performed (sadly) to make the cut in my opinion.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I see your point. As I'm sure you know better than I, theres a new recording of both violin concertos just out - by FP Zimmermann. It's getting a lot of radio airplay here in the uk. Maybe things will change!
@@chrishorner7679 Maybe!
Hi Dave. Great Video! My choices are:
Elgar Violin Concerto. - Tamsin Little
Roslavets Violin Concerto No.1 - Ibragimova
Walton Violin Concerto - Yehudi Menuhin
Myaskovsky Violin Concerto - Oistrakh
Korngold Violin Concerto - Perlman
Bernstein Serenade - Hilary Hahn
Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1 - Lisa Batiashvilli
Weinberg Violin Concerto - Gidon Kremer
William Schuman Violin Concerto - Paul Zukovsky
Just heard Shaham playing the Korngold. None better!
Are you going to be doing a video on ideal recordings of cello concertos?
Sure. Both of them.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Hahaha I figured you would say something like that
@@DavesClassicalGuide Come on, there are at least five.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Aw come on, do the Elgar too so there can be three....
Boom. Head shot. 😂😂😂
I would include Glazunov, I saw Hilary Hahn play it many years ago, lovely work.
Wrong century (I know, it was 1904, but by my definition as mentioned in the video).
My bad, watching on a tablet while the Mrs. is watching the TV, must have missed that, but thanks for replying.
I am familiar with all the concertos you talk about but the Bernstein. I’ll listen to it tomorrow over coffee.
My personal favorite is Walton’s. When I first heard the Walton I was stunned. Even now I am at a loss of words speaking of it.
Like you, I have a special esteem for the Elgar and Nielsen concertos. Also, the Hindemith, though I love his cello concerto even more. Unlike you, I am utterly amazed by the Bartok concerto.
I agree the 1st Shostakovich is the sublime masterpiece. Still, I have always been fascinated with and gravitated towards his 2nd, instead.
The one concerto you mention I really dislike is the Britten. Not thrilled with his piano concerto either.
One phenomena with 20th century violin concertos I have noted is how many of the greatest were written circa 1939, just prior to the Great War. On the eve of catastrophe, collectively, these concertos seem a grace note of beauty or a kind of benediction.
Hi Dave! Can’t agree about Britten’s quiet ending being any kind of mistake, let alone a BIIG one! In the context, it fades away into an angst-ridden and unresolved silence. In a good performance (Janine Jansen a few years ago at the Proms was simply scorching) it should haunt you for days. Incidentally, it appears to have been recorded 23 times, and only 3 of them are by British violinists (or 4 if you count Ida Haendel who was born Polish.) 4 Russians, 3 Germans, 2 Polish, 3 US, 1 each Norwegian, Dutch, French, Armenian, Canadian, Spanish, Czech and Irish. So not the preserve of British violinists at all!
I didn't say it was a mistake. I saiid it hurts the work's chances of performance.
@@DavesClassicalGuide actually that is exactly what you said: “it ends quietly, BII-IIG mistake” at about 19:42 into the talk!
@@stevechevis3158 Whoops! Right you are, but the intention was as explained, and not intended to suggest that ending was in any way "wrong." Thanks for giving me the chance to clarify.
right on David about those hard noise modernist
Anyone who poo poos the Korngold is not the kind of person I want to hang out with. Heifitz.
You may hate yourself in the morning, but it's impossible not to fall under the spell and love the Korngold.
@@thomcook8570Only were I to roll over in bed and find myself with a Korngold dismisser would I hate myself in the morning.
Can't stand the Korngold!
@@kend.6797 You're off the Christmas list
@@JeffMudrick oh, no!!!
The Vengerov Britten is (as someone else has already pointed out) coupled not with the Walton violin, but with the viola concerto (which I have never really warmed to). Joshua Bell made a wonderful recording of the Walton violin concerto (coupled with the Barber). The Britten is, in my opinion, the second greatest violin concerto of the 20th Century after the Berg (it's a kind of tribute to the Berg). Frank Peter Zimmermann's recording, which is excellent, is coupled with both of the Szymanowski concertos, which should be far better known (the first would make it onto my list as a 'sleeper'). My favourite recording of the Prokofievs (and the Stravisky) is by Kyung Wha Chung ( she also did a great Berg, and Bartok 2). My left field choice for a concerto not on DH's list would be the 2nd Martinu concerto (I think the 1st is a bit 'scrubby'). There's a fine recording coupled with his 4th Symphony conducted by Walter Weller.
Hi Dave, I see you didn't mention the Violin Concerto in A Minor (1952) of Gian Carlo Menotti. Glad to read that someone in the comments mentioned this work. What's your opinion of this work? I have two recordings of this work, the one with Tossy Spivakovsky, Munch and The Boston Symphony Orchestra (Naxos Historical label) & a newer recording with Ittai Shapira, Sanderling & The Russian Philharmonic Orchestra. (ASV label) Enjoy your videos very much. MUCH THANKS..... Fred
If Bernstein's 'Serenade' is really a violin concerto, do you buy into the argument that his second symphony 'Age of Anxiety' is really a piano concerto?
No, it's a concertante symphony along the lines of Harold in Italy.
Hmm...no mention of Vaughan Williams' Concerto Accademico. Must not have made it into the big tent...
It wouldn't make it into a little tent!
Personally I'm sad to see that Ernő Dohnányi's wonderful concertos did not make it to this list.
When they become repertory pieces, they will be on the list.
@@Quotenwagnerianer I'm sorry, but no. It does get played, and recorded enough for my purposes. I'm not disputing the quality, just the reality of recordings/performances.
Great list! I would also nominate: Szymanowski (as have many others, I see -- and Rattle, on Szymanowski, is one of the very few areas where he's worth a look!). I've also recently discovered the Vaughan Williams "Concerto Accademico" (James Buswell, with Previn/LSO) -- somewhat reminiscent of the Stravinsky and a great piece!
Dave, I thought for sure you were going to include at least one of Szymanowski's concertos in this list, but I see you talked about both his concertos elsewhere.
Hugh Bean studied the with Albert Sammons who played it with Elgar. My violin teacher was classmate and good friend of Bean. They both played in the Philharmonia . Bean was the leader in the great days of Karajan and Klemperer.
Bax's violin concerto is missing.
That's a forgettable piece IMO.
No it's not.
As an unashamed Bax junkie, I have to admit he struggled with concerto form. The closest he came to writing a decent concerto was his for cello. Both the violin and viola pieces (he called the latter a Phantasy) are pretty feeble and the two big piano works (Winter Legends and Symphonic Variations) are more like tone poems or symphonies. I can't see his violin concerto entering any major violinist's repertoire.
@@johns9624 I think his best concertante work is the Piano Concertino, albeit the word Concertino doesn't suit the scale and mood of the piece.
Fellow Baxian who agrees completely
Would've loved to hear your thoughts on the Dutilleux concerto!
Love it!
Only add i might have made to your excellent list is Miklos rozsas violin concerto
Thanks David . Is there a recording of Shostakovich 1st concerto with Igor Oistrakh ?
Not that I know.
Igor Oistrakh not that good! The Best violinist of All Time Are really Guila Bustabo ( The Queen Tiger Power) Viktor Tretjakov ( The King! The greatest ever!). Jascha Heifetz ( The Sound!!) Itzhak Perlman Leonid Kogan Miriam Fried Gidon Kremer
What a list! Now, could someone please lend me a few extra hours in the day to listen to them all in addition to everything else? Excellent performance choices too, many of which were radio favorites. I'd go for Zina Schiff and Serebrier in the Bloch for that extra degree of expression and commitment. Besides, I have a thing for Jewish women, but that’s just me. For an additional treat, check out the beautifully produced RUclips of the Korngold with William Hagen, Christoph Eschenbach and the Frankfurt RS.
Favorite modern violin concertos:
Elgar
Stravinsky
Weill
Schoenberg
Bloch
Barber
Hindemith
Martinu 2
Roy Harris
Shostakovich 1 & 2
Rozsa
Bernstein - Serenade
And for an encore -- RAVEL'S TZIGANE!! Love it!
Dear Dave. Are you missing the Szymanowski concertos? Best wishes
No.