Repertoire: The BEST Dvořák Violin Concerto
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Why is it that this gorgeously lyrical, formally perfect violin concerto has never received the acclaim that it deserves? Let's explore this question together, on the way to identifying a dozen of the best recordings--performances certain to confirm the work's status as one of the premiere masterpieces of its kind.
Musical Examples courtesy of Supraphon, Naxos and Ondine Records
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Your enthusiasm for Dvorak is so infectious, Dave; it’s great that you’re carrying the torch for a composer who is so often belittled and misunderstood. I hope that you’re considering doing a talk on one of the most underrated of all of Dvorak’s works: the glorious 3rd Symphony!
Yes yes yes, more Dvorak!! I live to watch Dave’s Dvorak videos!
There is one recording that got me into the Dvorák Violin Concerto. It’s the 1966 recording by little-known Edith Peinemann. It’s on DG, with the Czech Philharmonic conducted by Peter Maag. Reissued on CD in 1994 on the cheapo Resonance sublabel. I don’t know how this performance compares to others, but it sounds good to me.
As I remember, Peinemann made her Cleveland debut in the Concerto with an out of town orchestra. George Szell heard the performance and was so impressed that he took her under his wing. If only the two of them could have performed or recorded it together!
@@jfddoc Didn’t know that!
@@vinylarchaeologist Mate, that is my favourite too, not that the DVC is abundantly represented in my collection.
It is the version that I first had on LP. A lovely and rustic performance with the Czech PO in tow under Maag. Slight intonation flaw in her opening solo in high registers.
As I had never heard of Edith Peinemann, my first step was to look her up on WIKI. What a remarkable story. She is now 84, almost my age. And here is a quote from her Cleveland debut:
"By the time Germany's Edith Peinemann, 24, had reached the end of the first movement, it was obvious that this serious musician had the situation well in hand. . . When Miss Peinemann had completed her evening's work, she was called back for six curtain calls . . some of the men in the audience, as impressed with her physical beauty as with her musical talent. . . The orchestra violinists raved about her playing in a manner not often heard here and swarmed around to congratulate her."
There is a recording on offer on eBay.
Excellent!! Thanks, just yesterday I was saying to a friend that if the third movement had been composed by a German, it would be considered by anyone the best piece of all time!
Aha! I started with the Suk-Ancerl! I never continued the search after that! So your talk is going to be very interesting for me!!!
I came across this music after an amateur performance [where I played double bass] in the Worcester Symphony Orchestra about 1989/90. The WSO was a fairly average community orchestra, but always had a really good First Violin Leader.
I liked the music so much I went to the record shop and bought the Suk recording, and I LOVE this music. For me it is my favourite romantic violin concerto bar none!
My favourite violin concertos are by JS Bach, but I have a quite broad taste.
Thanks for your lovely videos. George
EDIT PS: So you share my enthusiasm for Dvorak over Tchaik! Love it!
I think this is a very fine collection of recordings of this beautiful concert. One recording that I also love and no one talks about today is the Mintz/Berlin phil/Levine recording. When I started collecting recordings as a teenager it was very difficult and expensive to get Cds in my small town. There was only a small collection of classical recordings available at my local dealer and they had to order it if I wanted something else (that then took 2-3 weeks). I already loved the dvorak cello concerto very much, so I started practicing the violin concerto as a violin student. I ordered the Suk/Ancerl and wondered how it will sound with orchestra. After 3 weeks I got a call from my dealer that they didn't get the Suk but a new recording with Mintz. First I was very disappointed, but nevertheless took it and was overwhelmed by the beauty of the orchestration. Later I bought the Suk, Milstein, Tetzlaff et. They are all great. But I still also like the Mintz, particularly the third movement. They take it quite slowly, but it's very detailed, especially from the orchestra. For instance, the differences in the instrumentation of the accompaniment of the main theme come off very vividly.
Thanks for adding this!
It may also be worth mentioning that the Tetzlaff Storgards Ondine disc also has Dvorak's sublime Romance for violin and orchestra. This should be included in "The world's most beautiful melodies" and like the concerto it is played by Christian Tetzlaff with such conviction and purity of tone. Achingly beautiful is the only appropriate adjective to describe this 12 minute masterpiece.
Thank you Dave, engaging and enjoyable as always. Dvorak really was an astonishing composer.
Still lots of wonderful stuff to talk about too! Unless I've missed them, it seems you're saving some of the best 'til last: the amazing Piano Quintets and Trios!
Good Lord! I've 289 different recordings of Dvořák, so thought I was 'well upholstered' in that repertoire. Turns out I didn't have a single recording of the Violin Concerto. Turns out I didn't even know there *was* a violin concerto! Thank you for putting me to rights. Order placed at Presto in a heartbeat...
It was through the Sophie Mutter's Dvorak concerto that I first heard Honeck, and I can now say that I am Honeck devotee.
Thank you, David for this wonderful talk about recordings of Dvorak’s violin concerto. I have the Isabella Faust recording, and recently got the Tetzlaff Ondine recording. It’s wonderful! But that Milstein recording is great indeed. You show the Milstein EMI box (which is sadly out of print, and how I wish Warner would reissue it as the Complete Warner recordings, even if the title would be nonsense), but I found the Dvorak/ Milstein not too long ago on a reissue on a Spanish label called Blue Moon. It is coupled with the Glazunov (Steinberg), and the Mendelssohn concerto with Leon Barzin/ London Philharmonic. Hope it’s still available. Anyway, thanks again for a very entertaining video!
i would add the recordings of Edith Peinemann & Peter Maag with the Czech Phil. (DG), Yuuko Shiokawa & Kubelik with Bavarian Radio SO (Orfeo), Johanna Martzy & Ferenc Fricsay with the RIAS SO, there is also a live recording on audite of Milstein with Ansermet, Kyung-Wha Chung & Riccardo Muti with the Philadelphia Orchestra and of course Ida Haendel (there is on Decca on recording, but i prefer the recording on Hänssler Classics with Hans Müller-Kray and the Stuttgart Radio SO, there is also a recording with Maazel but i didn´t heard this recording).
I remember buying the EMI Perlman, Barenboim LP just over forty years ago, I was immediately captivated by the beauty, energy and lyricism of work. I listened to it every day for about two weeks when I first bought the LP. Your talks on Dvorák have brought back memories from forty years ago, when I first discovered Dvorák, I have fallen in love with his music all over again. I heartily agree with you about the Legends, they are a wonderful set of short pieces.
Love your enthusiasm! Just performed this work myself and I just loved performing it! The second mvt is my favorite! I have to make another recording soon and just wanted to say that I appreciate how well and thought out your research was for this! Thanks for sharing your knowledge, and feel free to check out my recording of this piece on my channel if you’d like!
I agree that the Dvorak Violin Concerto is as great as any of the 19th Century. My introduction was Milstein’s recording with Steinberg on a Capitol LP with the Glazunov concerto as its coupling. I couldn’t imagine anyone else as good until I heard Suk/Ancerl that quickly became my reference recording on CD and still is. However, there is a 2015 recording also on Supraphon that hasn’t received the attention it deserves: Josef Spacek with the Czech Philharmonic/Belohlavek that is great with terrific sound to match. It is coupled with the Suk Fantasy and the Janacek Violin Concerto. Spacek is known mostly as a chamber musician and as concertmaster of the Czech Phil. I’ve heard him in recital and he is the real deal! I am not taken with Mutter/Honeck which is too mannered for me, but I should hear Ilya Kaler because he did fine Brahms and Schumann concertos for Naxos as well as terrific Dvorak trios as a member of the Tempest Trio.
Brits of a certain age will recall that Suk/Ancerl performance on Classics for Pleasure, whose lps cost about a third of a full-price disc and featured excellent recordings in decent pressings with attractive covers. Much like Naxos today, they allowed those of us who were near-broke affordable access to classical music. Featuring much by Ancerl, they instilled a life-long affection for that conductor and preference for reverberant acoustics.
The folksy 3rd melody of Dvorak's wonderful finale (at about 5:00 and reprised just before the ending) bears a striking similarity to the folk song "Ikh Bin a Mame." The tune was featured at the end of the 2009 movie "Defiance," scored by James Newton Howard, and starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber. Interestingly, the film soundtrack also featured segments (but not this melody) performed by violinist Joshua Bell, who has yet to issue a commercial recording of the Dvorak concerto. But you can find Bell's performance online at the Proms with the Bamberg SO.
I confess that I am one of those who overlooks this piece. I have over 2,000 classical music CDs and nearly as many LPs, I only have one Dvořák violin concerto in my collection. It is Tasmin Little/Vernon Handley recorded in the early 90s, and I do listen to it multiple times as it is my only one. I shall sample some of your recommendations. Thanks.
Same here. The performance seems fine but I much prefer the Bruch performance on the same CD.
OK, you've got me so excited about this concerto that I'm reaching for my violin right now. Dvorak's New world symphony (Toscanini) was the first album I owned as a child, and I fell in love with Dvorak's music. I have the Perlman, Barenboim disc of the concerto and love this piece. Thanks for giving it the recognition it deserves!
I must thank you, David, and also ClassicsToday reviewer Victor Carr Jr. for turning my attention to the masterful artistry of Pavel Sporcl, first, through his outstanding Strauss/Korngold disc, which I played several times and then this truly exciting and refreshing Dvorak/Tchaikovsky pairing.
I was just listening to Perlman on the "Slavonic Soul" set . . . . . and that (finale, last note) top harmonic "A" . . . was just . . . like a miracle note, magically pulled out of thin air!
Glad you picked the Mutter. It was the recording that really "turned me on" to the piece. So much fun! My second favorite would probably be Suwanai / Ivan Fischer on Philips.
I keep a soft spot for Herman Krebbers with the Amsterdam Philharmonic and Anton Kersjes. A very open and direct recording also. Thanks Dave for all these video’s. I can’t do without them anymore……
Fun talk. Although this concerto has never been part of the basic repertoire, I have always personally treated it as part of that canon because of its quality and sheer catchiness, and thus have several recordings of it, though not the Suk/Ancerl -- a situation now corrected as I've just acquired it on your recommendation. My collection so far has consisted of Milstein/Steinberg, Stern with Ormandy and also Mitropoulos, Neuss/Mengelberg, Ricci/Susskind, and Midori/Mehta. These have been acquired mainly by just picking up bargain discs here and there, not via any particular research.
I think the coupling is the deal breaker for me. Suk's fantasy is so lovely and one of my favourite works. A perfect partner for the Dvorak. There is also a great disc containing Coleridge-Taylor violin concerto on Avie which is another inspired coupling.
Tognetti has recorded it before with The Australian Chamber Orchestra and Anthony Halstead in a really good live radio recording for the station 4MBS in Brisbane, Australia in limited release. I think it's even better than his later BIS recording and more idiomatic than all the starry named soloists, except perhaps for the Suk. It has the adrenaline of a live performance and is my absolute reference recording to beat.
Isn't there a third Milstein recording, with Frühbeck de Burgos? As for Perlman, I heard him play this delightful concerto on a visit to Toronto in 1986. The conductor was Andrew Davis, who fancies himself something of a Dvořák specialist, so it may very well have been his choice. I share your love of this work, and I am old enough to remember when the only major-label recording on a Western label was by the tight-lipped Edith Peinemann on DGG.
Agree with you 110% about the Milstein version, Dave. I first heard it maybe 60 years ago and I can still hear it clearly in my memory. Just perfection! I think the version with Steinberg and the Pittsburgh Symphony was made in '57.
Thanks, dave; My top violin concerto - and yes, above Tchaikovsky!
Love the Dvorak Violin Concerto, it absolutely belongs in the top tier of violin concerti. It's hard to find, but my personal favorite recording is Akiko Suwanai with Ivan Fischer/Budapest Festival Orchestra.
This right here. An underrated gem of a performance.
One source lists 98 recordings of the Dvorak Violin Concerto, including two by Edith Peinemann. Wow! Have I got some listening to do.
Interesting observation about the three movements being almost identical in length. I certainly never thought about that before but it does explain the balanced- feeling proportions of the work. Two Christian Lindberg shout outs in two days gladdens my heart. That Nordic Chamber Orchestra/Tognetti recording is joyful and glides along rather nicely. Overall, I don’t think Suk/Ancerl has been bested; they make an utterly convincing argument for what is sometimes the least-loved of the three Dvorak concerti.
there's also a quite beautiful album containing Dvořák's, Suk's and Janáček's works for violin and orchestra, with Josef Špaček playing the solo instrument and Jiří Bělohlávek conducting. It proves -- at least in my opinion -- that even at the very end Bělohlávek was able to deliver some fire, while nonetheless being elegant and solemn.
I was waiting for this one. I have two of your top choices( Tetzlaff and the Naxos recording are fantastic), and based on some Amazon revues Sarah Chang with Colin Davis and the LSO, which I really bought for the coupling; Dvorak Piano Quintet Op 81, a beautiful work.
Thank you for explaining the concerto’s form, which adds depth to my keep on listening.
Near the end of the second movement, the 9:00 minute mark on the Tetzlaff recording, there is a beautiful violin horn chorus that is so hauntingly beautiful. Dvorak is a master of endings.
Hi Dave, how do you rate Pamela Frank with the Czech Philharmonic under Mackerras?
Hello Dave, and thank you for this. It is a wonderful piece that even my cattle and game enjoys when I drive the farm route here in the north of Namibia. Even the birds joins is. Sometimes! One that I always keep listening to! (Mutter and Menuhin). Best wishes.
I have a suggestion Dave - Please do a video reviewing the best versions of the Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. Since you are the TamTam guy it would seem that this would be right up your alley. It seems that there is a lot of variance in the recordings out there regarding the percussion parts.
Yes, there is. Thanks for the suggestion.
As a child, I had no use for Dvorak. He just didn't resonate with me. But when I got into my 20s, I became totally enamoured with him. I actually purchased the Zehetmair/Eschenbach with the Philharmonia Orch. on Teldec with/for the Schumann. But it took me a month to get to the Schumann because I couldn't get passed the Dvorak! I then got the Stern, Milstein and others.
It is a horribly disregarded and unappreciated work. How something this exciting never really found a footing among the standards is beyond me.
Your videos are true gem in classical music community... you're a gem 💎!!
Appreciate that!
Milstein last official recording is with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos in 1966 with the New Philharmonia, that makes him the only one who recorded three time the work. The Steinberg is the best IMO.
The version with Maazel is also remarkable..
Right. The Milstein/FdB version was my "imprint" version way back in the late 60s (coupled with the Glazunov on LP as I recall). On CD I've got both it and the Milstein/Steinberg, but I've never sat down to A/B them to determine a "best" Milstein stereo version.
There also a Milstein/Ansermet version from a Swiss music festival. Added to the Milstein/Maazel already cited and the Milstein/Dorati mono that Dave mentioned, Milstein must be in the running as the violinist who left us the most recordings of this concerto.
The first time that the "however" by David is totally in line with mine. Lovely recording and playing. Saves me from buying :) since David is mostly right.
Make that "always."
Thanks David for your reviews. As an audiophile I'm always interested in the performance and sound quality. It would be helpful if you would include both in your reviews. For example performance 9, sound 7. I can usually get an idea but this would helpful.
Noted!
I am a little late to this party, but Dave you mentioned you have been lucky enough to hear the Dvorak VC live a few times: I heard it once, totally unexpectedly. It was about 1980 and I drove to Cleveland from my home in Pennsylvania to hear Maazel conduct the CO in Severance Hall. It was a Tchaikovsky program that featured Leonid Kogan playing the great man’s concerto. Surprise! It was announced that Kogan was indisposed for some reason (it might have been political) and in his place they brought out Aaron Rosand to play the Dvorak Concerto, which I had never even heard of. It was great, and as I owned several Rosand recordings (they were affordable) I was even more excited to hear him than just another Soviet virtuoso. What a great piece! I just heard the Mutter/Honeck for the first time. Wild performance! I think the conductor was on Adderol, but I loved it.
Thanks for the talk! I'll have too explore recent recordings, which I've not heard. I love Suk/Ancerl and Martzy/Fricsay but can't wait to see what contemporary musicians do with it.
Having both the Perlman/Barenboim from the 70's and Mutter/Honeck, I find I rarely return to the Mutter despite excellent playing from Honeck and Berlin. She is still too willful for me, although I agree it is less here. Both of those recordings have Dvorak's Romance in F for violin/orch., and I swoon every time I hear it.
After a 2-week period of more intense uni study than usual, I am able to get back to catching up with David's videos. Starting here with the Dvorak VC! My favourite recording is Tetzlaff with Storgards. I used to listen to the work quite a bit, but really lost interest in it. Well, thanks David, I'm back into it! You hit the nail on the head for me in your book: "the entire work ... is a marvel of euphony throughout". I feel this best with Tetzlaff.
Dave, I wonder if you would consider presenting to your followers, Dvorak's first cello concerto in A minor. Dvorak gave the piano accompaniment to a friend that left town with it and he couldn't provide an orchestration. It was recovered in 1930. There is a great recording with Milos Sadlo and Vaclav Neumann and The Czech Phil. Marvelous piece!
David, it always piques my interest when you do Dvorak; more than any other composer, except Sibelius perhaps. Well, no “perhaps” about it. They’re both my main guys.
I was looking forward to this one very much. And although there was the spoiler alert at the beginning about Suk, I was still confidently expecting the "However!" that we all live and breathe for. After all, I was pretty sure what the ultimate favourite was going to be! But no. Not only no "however", but even no mention of Sergiu Luca and the Saint Louis Philharmonic under Slatkin on Nonesuch!
Admittedly: short shrift for a CD at 47.5 minutes, but such a committed, eager and full-blooded performance that it's indispensible for me. The Romance as a filler is often seen, the Mazurka for violin and orchestra not so much, so that's another reason I like having it.
My problemette with Suk is his nervous vibrato style, apparent in the vast majority of the longer notes. Not only is it faster than usual, it is also a bit strange in that not just the tone, but also (even more) the volume seems to fluctuate
. But the artistry and pedigree are impeccable all the same.
Thanks for another fascinating listen!
I d like to recommend Julia Fischer / David Zinman on Decca. It is a rare performance that actually feels like a conversation between soloist and orchestra.
This made me to appreciate Dvorak's orchestration and melodic genius much more.
Vol. 4 of Gielen edition contains another performance by Suk with Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart from 1970.
Great stuff Dave . I am with you on Suk`s recording but I have always loved Ricci`s earlier cut with Sargent on Decca . It may not be as sweet as Suk but it works for me. Cheers !
The new Hilary Hahn album Eclipse, coming out on Deutsche Grammophon in September 2022, features the Dvorak Violin Concerto, and the snippets of it they have put out so far sound as though this will be quite good, and another option for lovers of this concerto.
We'll see!
Hi Dave, enjoyed your informative video, glad you mentioned the Fischer/Zinman CD which I have and love, was hoping you'd mention the Faust/Belohlavek which I also have and enjoy, but you did not. You don't think it's one the good ones? Hope to get your answer. Thanks!
See my review at ClassicsToday.com: www.classicstoday.com/review/review-10760/?search=1
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks for the link. With a 9/9 rating I believe the Faust/Belohlavek deserved a mentioning in your video but too late now. Thanks much!
It was the same crap concerning sonata form that was thrown at Bruckner. Now I hope for a video on the mendelssohn Hebrides overture. Good video Dave !
PG
I own six recordings of this concerto, though none listed in the video. It's a beautiful work, and indeed it took me five minutes to find it on Spotify (so sad). I am glad to see that you like Muller's recording. I feared she had gone the Sarah Brightman route (going 100 percent indie-classical-glam-electronica garbage).
dvorak was gracious in keeping the work dedicated to Joachim. I like Accardo/Davis.
Your friendly neghbourhood gadfly has had the honour of being in a performance (Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, Alfonso Scarano chief conductor) with Sporcl as soloist, along with his nifty blue violin. As a colleague at the time pointed out, Sporcl is a true Bohemian, in more ways than one...
I actually discovered I have two of the recordings you mentioned on LP. First, i have Josef Suk with Karel Ancerl conducting the Czech Philharmonic on Quintessence, remarkably enough, and Second Isaac Stern with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, on Columbia, of course. It's very pretty but I didn't find it exciting
I've also got a live performance by Suk/Ancerl in an Orfeo cd. Just to mention it to add another recording in the Milstein/Suk competition. Lol.
The Tetzlaff recording had been my favorite for some time until I heard Oistrakh's performance. As far as the Soviet violinists go, I almost always lean to Kogan, but Oistrakh really nailed the Dvorak.
Love the Perlman recording!
Great defence of the wonderful Violin Concerto. Maybe some academics caused it to be underrated; Tovey felt the first movement was too short. I think he missed the mark (as in his complete underestimation of the 8th Symphony); Dvorak has decided on a different structure which is also effective. I think Tovey's analyses are great, and very educational, but nobody gets it right all the time.
Milstein made 3 recordings, they are the best of the bests, no doubt.
Yes, he did.
I thought Stern would make your list. Suk and Stern were my first records in my collection.
I bought the Suk on the Ancerl Gold edition. It sounded horrible. I couldn't believe it said 1960. Sounded like 1930. Practically unlistenable. I'll try the issue you had on this video and hope it sounds better.
You exaggerate, grossly.
A goose bumps concerto for sure.
I have Maxim Vengerov, David Oistrakh, Philippe Graffin, Kyung-Wha Chung, Ruggiero Ricci and Sarah Chang.
I hope Hilary Hahn will record it some day.
Listen to Hilary Hahn on RUclips.....Dvořák: Violinkonzert ∙ hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Hilary Hahn ∙ Andrés Orozco-Estrada
@@geoffradnor9357 Thanks, Geoff, seen it already, but her wearing a mask is a bit disturbing.
@@gillesderais3848 Right? The mask makes the experience dark and oppressive. I can't watch videos in which they are masked. Dark days based on lies.
The transition between the first two movements is so smooth that I actually never noticed where it was until I looked at some timestamps in a youtube comments section.
Much as I love this work David surely the last movement is too repetitive in its (oft repeated) opening dance section. This for me just relegates it out of the absolute great violin concerti. PS, have you heard the Edith Peinemann version with Peter Maag?
Yes, and no, it's not too repetitive at all.
Hello Dave, then there's Isabelle Faust with Belohlavek and the Prague Philharmonia with a super performance of Dvořák's violin concerto which you didn't mention in this video, top notch wouldn't you say?
No.
Just kidding. It's very good: www.classicstoday.com/review/review-10760/?search=1
@@DavesClassicalGuide Yes, very good performance, with an alert Belohlavek (for a change). The glitchless Julia Fischer with David Zinman is another fine performance to appreciate, which you more than approved of in your video. Merci.
As a noob-level listener I strongly & firmly believe that everyone needs the Milstein/Steinberg Dvorak & Glazunov Concertos. They are stupendous music-making.
I have Milstein/Steinberg, among others. Good choice.
I love the Suk but have a preference for Milstein with Steinberg on Capitol. Fabulous. However, can I make one correction to your talk? Milstein did actually record it again for EMI in 1966 or maybe 1967 with the New Philharmonia and Burgos. It's very good but I prefer the 1958 Steinberg disc.
Yes, I know. It was already discussed in these comments, but thanks for weighing in.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Oops. I watched the video and didn't read the comments!!
Hi David, what are your thoughts on Thomas Zehetmair under Eliahu Inbal for the Dvorak's concerto and romance and Schumann's Violin Concerto again with Zehetmair under Christoph Eschenbach? I really wanted Tetzlaff but found this budget on warner. Any recomendations? Or are they just straight average?
They are quite good, actually.
I've often wondered whether Dvorak is the greatest ( whatever that means ) symphonist after Beethoven but have had a sort of sniffy attitude to the violin concerto ( perhaps because of the iffy Piano concerto). I've just purchased the Suk version after listening to this post but was wondering why you havent mentioned the recording made by one of my favourite soloists, Midori, with the NYPO/Mehta. Just lack of time or..., is it that you dont consider it a worthwhile recording?
Neither. A dozen excellent versions are enough for this discussion.
Hi Dave! In your video of the Dvorak Piano Concerto you didn't care for Hayroudinoff's performance but you highly praised James Ehnes' performance of the Dvorak Violin...did you leave out Ehnes from your current list because of the coupling?
Yes.
How about Martzy/Fricsay which is frequently recommended?
How about it?
I came to this concerto later in my long listening life and I love it and Dave, your explanation of it's lack of popularity is illuminating.
I too have wondered why it was not played more in the 20th century. There is Milstein who recorded it several times but artists like Stern and Oistrahk recorded it only once and it seems the likes of Heifetz, Fransescatti, Grumiaux, Szeryng, etc. never recorded it to my knowledge. I wonder if they played it? We record collectors can tend to think if it wasn't recorded it wasn't played but that isn't true of many artists and works.
I'm not going to be popular in saying this but the middle movement, which is lovely, doesn't really go anywhere. And perhaps hersey to say: the 2nd movement of Dvorak's Cello Concerto is not all that memorable either.
In the case of cello concertos there aren't many great ones and to ignore the Dvorak, which is a great and wonderful piece despite the less interesting middle movement would be insane. As for violin concertos with so many great ones written in the 19th and 20th centuries this may be why. Again: with a totally great 1st and a wonderfully irresistible finale the violin concerto cannot be ignored.
Thanks for recommending the wonderful Suk performance. A wonderful recording alive with freshness and spirit!
Yes, it is heresy, but that's your feeling, and you're welcome to it. Just keep your ears open. You never know...
@@DavesClassicalGuide Yes I will keep my ears open.
What I enjoy most about your videos are: you've encouraged me to investigate some sets I never would have thought of like the terrific Silvestri ICON set that I snagged just before it disappeared and the Paul Kletzi Beethoven. Two names I barely knew. Hearing is believing so thanks for those; they're are great. And , while I don't have quite your "overflow room" I own a lot of music that has gotten pushed aside and almost forgotten so I welcome the reviews that remind me of performances I haven't heard in a long time and get renewed pleasure without buying anything! And, sometimes they're performances I hadn't taken to initially but you have changed my mind in a few cases.
btw... I think we may have met many years ago. Did you not manage the HMV store on 72nd Street with my long ago friend Bob W. who was married to the very nice Nancy H?
Hope you're well and keep the reviews coming.
Right before the end of the second movement there is a lovely violin horn chorus that just takes my breath away. Dave didn’t mention that but he has expanded my 👂 ears with his “keep on listening.”
Thoughts on Augustin Hadelich's new recording of this concerto? It's on an album of Bohemian music on Warner Classics.
Could you please make an effort to be wrong -- not every time, but fairly often? I can't resist buying recordings that you say are great, and it's becoming an expensive hobby. I need to break the cycle. I could have broken it by now, if several of your top picks had turned out to be duds.
I was forbidden by two separate teachers from playing this. One, because the first page ends with a really un-violinistic lick that never really sounds good. The second, because it was suddenly fashionable for conservatory auditions, and he was bored with it.
For many years I was perfectly satisfied with the Oistrakh recording and never saw the need to seek out other recordings. Thanks Dave for these wonderful recommendations. Some of them are really good and ear-opening for me. However, I must admit that I never enjoy anything by Mutter and her Dvorak recording sounds mannered and pretentious as she always does.