Repertoire: The BEST Beethoven Violin Concerto
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- So many recordings, so many of them excellent! What to do? Here are ten of the very best versions of this immortal classic, performed by violinists both legendary and more recent.
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Szeryng’s Beethoven VC is always my favorite. Either Schmidt-Isserstedt or Haitink. I love Szeryng’s sweet beautiful tone.
One thing with Heifetz is always the precision of intonation. He always hits the note with subatomic accuracy - none of the Menuhin (even at his peak) approximation. Coupled with often speedy tempos like this Munch recording and JH takes flight. This is another thought-provoking review
Wolfgang Schneiderchan, with Jochun, the very best!
Heifetz has a terrific astringency in all his playing. Effortless, headlong music. If it’s the first one you hear, you miss it listening to the others. Heard Hilary Hahn, Maxim Vengerov… both terrific. But somehow Heifetz makes you cry and dries your eyes at the same time.
Heifetz was also a great first-class Musician.Non musicians say junk cuz they don't know!
After many years and lots of great recordings, the one closest to my heart is still Francescatti/Walter. Utterly charming in its soulfulness.
Hard to beat Francescatti, especially on Mozart.
Glad to see Schneiderhan/Jochum in there. It really is a fun one.
I've gone through this list of beethoven violin concertos for a long time and I have to say that grumiaux/van beinum and tetzlaff/zinman are two terrific hits. Cannot stop listening to them!
Tetzlaff is a deity!
David picked Tetzlaff Dvorak violin concerto as number one in his Dvorak violin concerto video.
Just what we were wishing for. Thank you Dave, great video!
David Oistrack/Cluytens for me. This is exactly how this concerto should sound like. I also like very much the Chung/Kondrashin on Decca. Now few sleepers:
1. Gulli/Albert withh Orchestral Lamoureux 1958, Guilli is quite amazing here
2. Karin Adam/Antoni Wit, 1992 she disappears of the radar after this recording but what a recording. Hard to find CD if you cross it grab it
3. Lorenzo Gatto; Benjamin Leny 2014, a modern approach (HIP influence) and the recording is really nice
4. Kraggerud/Kluxen 2020, the solist write is own cadenze, this one is quite special, a little bit extreme like Zehetmair/Bruggen,
5. Alena Baeva/Roberto Fores Veses '2021, available on streaming only, Live concert and to me one of the best of recent recordings.
Wow.Its wonderful to read this.Zehetmair is the only name I recognize.Ihope u contribute again or start your own channel.
My personal favorite is Suk with Boult (he also did an excellent version with Konwitschny). In the moderate tempo of the first movement, a deep vein of melancholy is revealed under the gorgeous lyricism.
Hahaha, the entire time I was waiting for you to mention the Heifetz/Munch recording. Could not agree more with its placement, what an outstanding rendition of Beethoven's work! And Heifetz's cadenzas!!
Great video, thank you!
I have the Heifetz Beethoven recording on vinyl.
That was the first recording I ever purchased with Heifetz.
I love the Beethoven concerto.
I couldn't believe the clarity of the recording and Heifetz,s playing.
That's my reference, Beethoven concerto.
Enjoyed the video very much.
That's exactly my reference Beethoven violin concerto. It's how it's 'supposed' to sound.
PERFECT! You nailed it!
It’s always been Hilary Hahn for me. Beautiful tone, perfect tempi, marvelous sound quality, and the Bernstein Serenade as well. So glad she made your top ten.
For my money Hilary is the GOAT. She lights up this Beethoven VC too.
My very first hearing of this concerto is this Hahn recording. Over 60 years of exploring classical music and have come late to the concerto, just hearing it very recently.
I had the Hilary Hahn Sony box Dave showed.
Hilary Hahn, is a magnificent player. But, I think the most important thing is having your own way of playing, being one of a kind. There will be plenty of players coming along who are just as good as Hahn. There'll never be another Heifetz, no matter who comes along. He was, and will always be, one of a kind.
Pity its not on vinyl
David, great video on this iconic piece of music. I have the Schneiderhan/Jochum version on DG 447 403-2 recorded in 1962 and as a bonus you get Mozart's Violin Concerto No 5 KV 219 recorded in 1968 as well!🙂 A reference recording if ever there was one.🙂
my favorite also
Dave, I was so glad you mentioned Rachel Barton Pine. No one seem to give her attention like the big names. She did a similar concept disc married up the Brahms and the Joachim. I even like that disc more than the Beethoven. So talented.
I mentioned the Brahms/Jochum.
When we first got a CD player, I remember going to the local shop in our regional centre and there was the Perlman Barenboim recording, brand new. So it’s been my go-to for decades. I look forward to exploring the others, however.
Thank you! A little late to the party, but I love your list. It is really well thought out and I imagine very hard to do in this piece, where there are so many good recordings. I grew up with the Schneiderhan and it has a special place in my heart. I do remember really loving the Zehetmair/Brüggen recording but haven't heard it in at least a decade. Maybe it doesn't hold up but Zehetmair has always been a favorite of mine. Will check out the Barton Pine recording, I never heard of her before and am really looking forward.
heifetz munch is my best version too......i always have tears,when i listen this versions...oh so beautiful...! royalty...!....and i remember my mother listen at home the oistrak-cluytens versions when i am children....good souvenir....and i like too the grumiaux gallieria version..is so beautiful too.
Mr. H., this review of the best Beethoven Violin Concerto recordings is spot on! My own personal favorite is the Grumiaux/Beinum, but you'll get no argument from me if anyone picks ANY of the recordings you mention. When it comes to this work, we really do have an "embarrassment de richesse!" There is also a stunning live performance by the youngsters Sergei Khachatryan and Lorenzo Viotti on TH-cam that has such an innocent purity and gorgeous lyricism that it often brought tears to my eyes. Cheers!
All terrific choices. Two others available only on vinyl that I personally rate very highly: Parikian (Concert Hall) and Loveday(Saga). Two versions on CD that are also worth searching out are Suk EMI and Kogan EMI. As for Heifetz - say no more. A one off.
This is a great talk as usual. Re Regis, my sense is that it is one of those budget labels that waits for the copyright protections of classic recordings to expire, and proceeds to release those recordings, usually in worse sound. It has released a lot of classic opera recordings in this manner.
The concert recording by Suk and Sargent (BBC) still gives me goosebumps.
Grumiaux/Beinum's Beethoven was the first record I ever owned, given to by my parents in1960. I was so glad to buy the CD about 5 years ago. It's still my personal reference recording.
The Kyung Wha Chung with Kondrashin and Vienna is a fine recording also. The tempos are just right with perfect dynamics. I have the Heifetz but coupled with the Brahms with Fritz Reiner. I ventured into something newer and got Janine Jansen and Paavo Jarvi which is very interesting but somehow the interplay between orchestra and soloist isn't as engaging as the Chung and Kondrashin -- but Jansen's a tremendous violinist no doubt
My favs are the Ying and the Yang of approach: Heifetz and Anne Sophie-Mutter with Karajan. It’s big, it’s slower but never boring, and I love her tone.
Hello I went through your choices and I happen to have agreed with you with Heifetz and Much for well over three decades. Still I kept listening to others and always came back to my Heifetz Home … until I listened to Nikolaj Znaider playing the Mozart Concertos with Riccardo Chailly. It was so sensitive and brilliant I had to search for that Znaider man on the Opus 61. He recorded it with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic and 3 years ago again with Chailly. You love the origin sound of Violins well then his is an 18th century piece belonging to the Danish Country or whatever and they let him just play with it. It is simply fabulous especially when taking into consideration the quality of the recording. All the timing is there in minutes perfectly respected just like you so correctly said. I have no clue if you’ll ever get a chance to give it a try but from what I gather of your taste so very similar to mine you will have to add it to your favourite list.
That you for all the background lesson I really enjoyed. Be healthy and I’ll go through what you suggest as per my favourite pieces.
Roberto
I do like the Oistrakh/Cluytens version with the French Radio Orchestra. Lyrical, romantic version. Dynamic contrasts while beautiful warm tone of the recording.
Hi Dave, I have been reading your reviews for several years - or rather decades. I have been an avid reader of Classics Today along with Fanfare, ARG, and Music Web International since 1993. (BTW, I agree with your statement you made in one of your reviews - my interpretation follows: that Gramophone reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt, especially when it comes to recordings made by British conductors and orchestras). For a few months now I have been enjoying your TH-cam reviews. Yes, I know I am late to the party. I guess I am one of those hard copy collectors. As other viewers and commentators have pointed out, they enjoy watching your videos because of the expertise and the humor you bring to these reviews. I absolutely agree! (absolutely being one of your favorite words). I also appreciate your immense vocabulary, in particular your careful and varied use of adjectives. I never tire of listening to your reviews, and for the most part I also agree with your assessments of recordings (but that's beside the point). Keep up the great work!
Thank you. I will try.
Wonderful talk, as always with some great insights aubout the piece itself and great recommendations. These glasses with thick frames occur still today, especially in designer and architects circles, where they are considered to be just cool ... however my favourite recording is also (someone mentioned it already) Frank Peter Zimmermann with Jeffrey Tate - very "german" and on the slower side, lyrical but powerful when it must be, I especially like the beautifully balanced "dialogue" between bassoons and the solo violin in the first movement (right before the recapitulation of the "DA DA DA DA DAAAAA" motto rhythm or something).
Why no Kogan? I can't believe. Ha ha. Always have suprise in here. Thank you David!
1300 videos and still going strong! Says something about the astounding depth of classical music - and from someone who doesn’t get Bach! 😎 Feel free to start repeating. I am learning a lot.
My favourite performances are the mentioned Oistrakh/Cluytens, Schneiderhan/Jochum and in addition Röhn/Furtwängler - may be my favourite - and Neveu/Rosbaud, just my personal opinion.
A most enjoyable repertoire talk. Not only was the Beethoven Concerto the first genuinely "symphonic" violin concerto, as you pointed out, it was also revolutionary in its liberation of the timpani as a major player in announcing and developing a thematic motif. The only prior instance of this I can think of would be the first chorus of Bach's Christmas Oratorio. That's one reason why I have always appreciated the Schneiderhan/Jochum, with its adaptation of the cadenza from the Piano version, with its prominent dialogue between violin and timpani. I agree wholeheartedly with your choices when it came to Schneiderhan, Grumiaux, Hahn, Oistrakh and Heifetz. The others I have not heard, though the Rachel Barton Pine album intrigues me. I like both brisk, classically-oriented versions and slower, more romantically expansive ones. Among the former,I favor the historic Heifetz/Toscanini collaboration which is quite exciting (yes, the sound is thin) and among the latter I enjoy the Francescatti/Walter. But if I had to choose just one, it would probably be Hahn/Zinman, a fairly recent discovery. It also comes as part of an absolutely unmissable set what reveals just what a formidable prodigy, and great musician, Hilary Hahn was and is.
There's tons of motivic work for solo timpani in Haydn, and a great deal of weird timpani stuff in the baroque period before Bach.
If Heifetz really a must, I prefer his mono recording with Toscanini. Oistrakh’s Beethoven is always my first choice, I collected 8 different versions played by him with different orchestras and conductors, they are all great. Also, Milstein, Rohn, Grumiaux, Krebbers are all wonderful.
The second Furtwangler/Menuhin was made on my birthday! 4/8/53.
Young Frank Peter Zimmermann with Jeffrey Tate. When he was playing without shoulderrest and had that old school sound. That’s the one I always come back to. The most sublime and humane recording of the concert. You can’t hear the interpreter, it’s all enlightnent music. The way he vibrates the fourth of the highest arpegio of the cadenza, before the main theme reapears in counterpoint withe the second theme, is sublime. He is the only one that understood that the climax comes in that fourth, and not later. The only drawback of that recording is that the violin is recorded pretty far away and one must cranck up the volume.
Frank Peter Zimmermann is a highly underrated violinist who deserves far more praise than he has received. Thank you for shedding light on this particular magnificent recording.
Wow ! You, David and I have something in common. We were both born in 1947 and are both budding Percussionists . At 7pm here in Australia I eagerly await your spendid reviews. You're THE best reviewer of the Classical music recordings on planet earth, Regards, Richard
Lmao he was born in 1961 🤣🤣
Yes, 1961, sorry!
Thanks Dave, I have just bought the download version of Heifetz/Munch Beethoven & Mendelssohn as well as Brahms & Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos with the BSO (RCA).
It was the dreadful Rattle/BRSO/Eberle/Widmann concert that landed me here. My apologies, I had never heard of Heifetz before. But then, I'm still pretty fresh to classical music.
Enjoy!
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks. I sure do. They were a great buy. Having listened to all four a couple of times over now, if I could choose only one..., it would be Tchaikovsky. As beautyful and injoyable as the others are, the Tchaikofsky violin concerto has that feel-good factor for me.
Excellent talk as always. My first recording was Stern-Barenboim-NYPO, what’s your opinion of that one? Not tops obviously but maybe next 10? Thanks!
I like it!
Dave, could please review the Beethoven VC with Duenas/Honeck?
Thank you for this. And so glad that the Isabelle Faust recording didn't make it. She's a fantastic violinist and over here the Gramophone critics went wild over her recording of the Beethoven VC 'It's so fresh it wins the day' etc - so I bought it. Yet to me it sounded affected and full of clever postures rather than a faithful account from someone who was immersed in the music. Maybe I'm being unfair but my guess is that there are a lot of other Gramophone victims out there. What's your view?
I agree with you Faust is wasting her talent.
I fully agree with your first choice David, but call me nuts, while I find Heifetz and Munch to be incomparable, I still sneak out with my "mistress" as it were, and enjoy the old Milstein and Steinberg recording. Heifetz plays like a God, but sometimes you want, beg for something a bit more warm, and for me the early Milstein recording nails it. Thanks so much for this wonderful review, and believe it or not, I'm probably the only one on your site to have heard about and never listened to the Perlman/Giulini recording. Starting tomorrow I'll fix that. Thanks again!
I really enjoy Kremer and Harnoncourt - seems to me they've really thought about how the music should sound, and it sounds very convincing to me. And I even like their out-Schneiderhanning Schneiderhan cadenza.
I totally agree regarding the Kremer/Harnoncourt performance, and the creativity of introducing piano into the cadenza is another plus.
Dear David
My apologies as I just took knowledge of your channel few days ago, shame on me
Fascinating passion you have there and I truly love it
I am going to spend most of my free time listening to all previous wealth you kindly shared
If I may, and I know you said many will have their first 5 , 10, or 20, I was expecting Christian Ferras with H Von Karajan to be among your 10
Much appreciated
It could have been! Thank you for joining the party!
@@DavesClassicalGuide
Ferras has a sensitivity in his interpretation that speaks to my soul and Karajan is certainly one of the best German conductors who is able to penetrate what the great master Ludwig had in mind
Thank you much for your generous sharing
Multiple great performances, some I will revisit, some I will get. The comment about Heifetrz having quit while still at the top, rings true to me, for example, there is a TH-cam
clip of this concerto with Anne -Sophie Mutter from March of this year. She is nowhere the violinist that she used to be, IMHO. She had been on top of my list of living violinists,
except that I am disappointed by her recent performances.
May I kindly ask you where on your spectrum the recording with which I got introduced to Beethoven’s Violin Concerto - Anne-Sophie Mutter with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Karajan - ranges? I can already tell by listening to the cadenza at the end of the Allegro that I have a new favourite recording with Heifetz/Munch. 🙏
It's good, but I don't think as good as Heifetz. However, what matters is that it speak to you, and if you like it, that's great. We're talking about a very high level of artistry in any case. The rest is just personal taste.
If you can manage to source Schneiderhan's earlier version with Paul van Kempen you will hear the most sublime performance ever recorded. I love Oistrakh too, the sound is terrific. My favourite modern recording is Perlman, the original record has a more glowingly warm violin tone than the CD.
Dear Dave,
First of all, I have to tell you that I am completely overwhelmed by the multitude of your videos and your incredible listening experience (and this gigantic CD collection)!
After watching some of your videos, I would be interested to know to what extent you take audiophile standards such as sound engineering aspects, recording technique, stage, spatiality, sound resolution etc. into account in your descriptions?
Or are your ratings based solely on interpretative qualities?
As long as the sonics don't get in the way of the performance, I'm generally OK with them, but I will draw attention to the sound if there's something especially noteworthy about it, good or bad.
Dave, please do a review on Beethoven's violin sonata repertoire. Pleeeeeez... Heifetz? Did Midori do one?
Arguably the best violin concerto. I have the Oistrakh box, so is it in there? Also recently heard the Shahan on Sirius XM. What about the Aaron Rosand that got mixed reviews? I also like the Francescatti/Walter.
If you have the box, why are you asking me?
One of my favorite recordings of the Beethoven is Mischa Elman and Georg Solti with the London Phil (1955). Elman recorded most of the great concertos (erratically) well past his prime in the 50s, but he pulled off the Beethoven in great form. He also plays his own cadenzas, which are a true joy. I was wondering if you're aware of it.
Thanks
Elman/Solti must have one of the longest cadenzas ever, pushing the first movement out to nearly 26 minutes! Not that I am complaining, Elman really enjoys getting under the hood and tinkering with Ludwig's engine, then gracefully creates a space for the orchestra to come back in.
Dave, Milstein's recording with Steinberg and the Pittsburgh Symphony was a mono recording. He remade it in stereo with Erich Leinsdorf and the Philharmonia Orchestra a few years later. How does the stereo performance compare with the mono?
You tell us.
Check out the Pincus Zuckerman , Zubin Mehta NYPhil performance. Love it. Also if ONLY for the sheer gorgeousness of the violin’s sound Lisa Batshivili
Nice review David. I have 5 CDs on your best list. Have you listened to the new recording by Christian Tetzlaff with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, under Robin Ticciati? It has become a new favourite of mine.
Yes I have!
Thanks. What’s your opinion on Tetzlaff’s new recording?
Although composed for Clement, the concerto was dedicated to his friend Stephan von Breuning, not Clement. The first recording of the Beethoven VC I owned was Francescatti/Walter on Columbia. I love the Clement VC 1, but its idiom is very much different from Beethoven's. Clement's concerto sounds about like what a violin concerto by Haydn would have sounded like if he had composed one during the "London Symphony" period, except it's much more structurally diffuse. Clement's D minor Violin Concerto of 1810 sounds much more like Beethoven (especially the 3rd PC).
Schneiderhan and Oistrakh would be my two picks off of the list you provide though my preferred violinists for the Beethoven Violin Concerto would be David Nadien and Isabelle Faust.
Great choices! I would add Midori to the list. Rachel Barton Pine is still performing very actively, including a performance of Prokofiev 1 at Ravinia last summer on 3 hours notice (filling in for...Midori).
I’ve had the privilege of seeing Rachel Barton Pine live in Madison a couple of times (although not performing the Beethoven). An absolutely magnificent musician, and I love the work she is doing now to expand the concert repertoire beyond the usual staid warhorses.
@@AlexMadorsky I've seen her twice here in CLE; wonderful both times!
Another great video....A performance I find very powerful and "moving" is Milstein with Steinberg. Heifetz was perfection.. but Milstein had more "heart"
I’m really curious about what you think about the recent Duenas/Honeck one with berlin phil. Could not find it mentioned on the website or the channel.
Haven't heard it yet.
You should make video about Beethoven piano concerto nº0. The one he wrote when he was a teenager. French music is very present there. There is a good performance in Brilliant classics coupled with the triplo concerto.
I've got Thomas Zehetmair with the Ensemble Modern and Ernest Bour (live, 26.10.1987) and Christian Tezlaff with the Symphony-Orchestra of the Südwestfunk and Michael Gielen (1990). The first one (38 : 14) might be too fast in places: introduction 2 : 36, timpani cadenza from 15 : 18, 20 : 20 for the whole first movement, 8 : 35 & 9 : 19 for the second & third movements.
The scond one (39 : 45 - introduction 2 :56, timpani cadenza from 17 : 13, 22 : 55 for the whole first movement, 7 : 35 & 9 : 15 for the second & third movements) sounds quite decent to me.
Great insight on the importance of the various orchestral groups in this piece. Even the lowly 2nd trumpet is challenged by Beethoven. The repeated pianissimo low As in the !st movement are terribly exposed, difficult, and can ruin the moment (and the trumpeter’s night)! This passage often appears on 2nd trumpet auditions, and are very hard to do well if you are nervous.
Color me blasphemous but I've always felt that the Heifetz is rushed, which detracts from the sublime beauty of the piece...my favorite is Zino Francescatti with Bruno Walter...
You ended with the greatest. You’ve restored my faith in humanity.
My favorite is probably Grumiaux with Colin Davis, though I haven't heard it in a long time. I recall Isaac Stern's recording with Bernstein being quite good (though reputedly massively edited), his later one with Barenboim much less so. Also Christian Teztlaff/Zinman.
I agree that a second Perlman recording was unnecessary after his first with Giulini, but it was nearly 15 years later when he did it.
I also really like Aaron Rosand's recording (paired with the Brahms), which he did with the Malaysian Philharmonic in his 70s. This along with his Bach Sonatas/Partitas is IMHO a great late-career addition to his legacy.
And yes, Heifetz as always is in a class by himself.
I remember thinking at the time, that the Perlman/Barinboim remake was because they now had digital technology.
You were going to produce a video on Elgar's Violin Concerto some time. Any progress?
Nope.
Wonder if Dave can do the Best Tchaikovsky VC and the Best Mendelssohn VC at some point in time. Thanks Dave.
I can do anything.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks Dave. Looking forward to the Best Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky VCs.
@@chlee3831 You got it! Just hang tight. It's always difficult when you are talking about a work that has so many versions. I dread listing the best 10 or 12 only to have someone chime in with "you FORGOT performance X."
So hard to whittle down favourites to 10, let alone pick the "best". Two that would have a place in my pantheon are Suk/Konwitchny & Milstein/Steinberg, the latter a touch lower down in pecking order because the Pittsburgh orchestra sounds just a little thin as recorded & Steinberg rather plain. But Milstein...
As a timpanist, I’m always sadned to hear about the all-important opening 4 strokes on the timpani. What happened to the 5th stroke?? Well, it gets drowned out by the annoying wood winds! It’s so sad! Sometimes I wonder if anyone would care if I left it out. Please, keep on listening!
You need to be a good sport.
@@DavesClassicalGuide 😂 I’m trying, man. It just hurts! Great talk, anyway. I play timpani on the Tetzlaf recording. We used to play with him all the time, back in the days. Once he jumped in and played Shostakovich 1st w 5 hours notice, when Mullova and Rosdedsvensky had an argument at the dress rehearsal. He walked out, and said “It’s me or her!” Just before a 2 week Germany tour. Christian got baby sitter, an airplane ticket and found his part, that he hadn’t played for some two years. Mid tour, Gennady left, Dausgaard came in, so when we reached Berlin, the poster was all wrong, as conductor, soloist and repertoire had been changed. Good times!
@@TheUtke: Thanks for that fascinating (albeit a little morbid---> V.M. and G.R. couldn't resolve their disagreements more productively? Bizarre...) inside-story.^^
A very recent recording by Leonidas Kavakos has him adapting the original Beethoven cadenza as well, might be interesting to compare it with Schneiderhan's
Kavakos plays with the tempo of the 1st movement with an exagerrated manner that the structure of the movement falls apart.
There is a lovely modern version done by Fanny Clamagirand with the ECO under Ken David Masur on Mirare. Coupled with Vasks Violin Concerto. Anyone like this version?
Yes I do like it (2019), in 2020 the Petrova/Katorow is also superb. better than Midori (very middle of the road); Kavakos (slow but some inner details are put forward), Lozakovitch (Live the finish and recording are not beyond critics) . There is also a good recording by Petrova/Kantorow But I like Alena Baeva/Roberto Fores Veses even better. The spurt of those ecordings are around LvB 250th anniversary.
Eyeglass Frames?.........So Funny Dave, you are a riot.?.......lol.
Hi Dave, I'm going to get shot down here as I don't own the Giulini - Perlman recordind, but I do have the Barenboim- Perlman, and I have to say apart from the excellent performance for me the sound quality is absoloutely outstanding, it's as good as any of my best Chandos discs for clarity and really helps bring out the beauty of the work.. Surely if the quality of the sound is better (and you are probably going to correct me here) then the new recording justifies it's existence?
My only problem with the live remake is they have included audience applause at the end and they seem half asleep when they should be wildly enthusiastic!
I'm not going to argue with you. It's a fine performance in, as you say, excellent sound. I just was able to make the comparison that you didn't, and I don't think it was a necessary remake, but if it's the only one you have and you love it then that's perfectly valid for you.
@@DavesClassicalGuide fair play and thanks for the great recommendations, Heifetz always sounds so fresh and I like his faster pacing as an alternative
I find the Perlman is technically is more secured with Barenboim than with Giulini. The recording, even it's Live is also better. However the Giulini has something special about it.
I grew up on Perlman and Giulini, the Heifetz recording is stunning in its execution but so fast that I found it rather jarring (had not heard it before). I like the piece better at more relaxed tempos but I completely understand why you would feel Heifetz is the #1.
Does anyone know if Hurwitz has done a similar analysis of recordings/performances of the Strauss oboe concerto?
Hurwitz knows. He has not.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Many thanks.
Thank you! So, when is your birthday? 28 or 29?
Same as me. The 29th.
Yep!
@@dirkh.44 Thanks!
I know a period performance that I think belongs on this list: Monica Huggett, Charles Mackerras, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. I love that record. I don't know all the performances on this list, but I prefer Huggett to Perlman and Hahn.
I don't. I think it's very mediocre.
Your regular comments on Furtwängler make me wonder whether you’d be interested in putting together a portrait of him based on his recordings.
I did it already.
Milstein/Erich Leinsdorf is also a great recording!
You missed one of the greatest of all: Leonid Kogan and the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra conducted by Silvestri, on EMI and reissued by Testament, in excellent stereo. Given your love of Silvestri and the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, I'm surprised you missed this one! Kogan had a special feel for the Beethoven concerto and is every bit as good as the other great violinists discussed.
I didn't miss anything. I didn't mention it because I discussed more than enough versions. Kogan's "special" feel is no more "special" than anyone else's "special" feel.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks for the response! BTW, your channel and videos are amazing, even when I don't agree with you 🙂 We all owe you such a debt of gratitude for posting these great videos!
Christopher That is right! Kogan with Paris CO with Silvestri is one of the greats.
I don't get something. You mention that there aren't any great performances on period instruments, but a number of the violinists mentioned here play instruments that were built well before the piece was written. Both Perlman and Menuhin played the Soil Stradivarius which was built in 1714. I'd call that a period instrument. Oistrakh's and even Shaham's are older still. What am I not understanding about the designation "period instrument" as applied here?
Gut strings, old bows, reconstructed models of un-modernized instruments, period performance practice, etc. Of course, most of the best instrumental are "old," but they have all been upgraded and they are not played in modern period style (there's an oxymoron for you).
Still waiting for the Brahms Double Concerto, Dave.
How about a simple "thank you" for what you have?
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thank You.
I'm certainly not Dave, but how about the version with Heifetz and Piatigorsky? It's been my "go to" for decades now.
Kogan /SIlvestri or Francescatti/Walter - that is the question
Heifetz - Munch is superb - but not for me. My however choice is Oistrakh - Cluytens. Hahn - Zinman is the choice of the modern sound recording.
Your glass frame is no better 😂
Omigod you’re exactly one week older than me…
Heifetz Munch is the one I grew up on, so I naturally always assumed that’s what it was supposed to sound like.
Hideous spectacles are back in with the hipster crowd Dave, and hipster musicians are no exception. I can’t claim to be a musician, but I’d love to get my paws on some echt-Soviet Shostakovich frames.
Francescatt/Walter is my favorite by far. There are some other fine ones like Schneiderhan and Kantorow. Heifetz/Munch is way too fast.
I just heard Augustin Hadelich’s Beethoven live in Prague and also played it with him last summer in the orchestra. He doesn’t have a recording out yet, but I’m guessing one is on the horizon based on how much he’s been playing it and that he’s recorded so much else. When it comes out, you’ll have to remake this video! I haven’t heard Rachel BP’s Beethoven yet cut the Clement was on the radio a few weeks ago. Ugh! What a slog of a piece. Interesting historically, but ick just bad music
Did I miss something or am I naive to think that the Christian Ferras recording with, God forbid, von Karajan was great? I was very moved by it above the others I've heard. Otherwise, Heifetz rules.
You like what you like.
@@DavesClassicalGuide No, I'm supposed to goad you into saying something nice about the recording. Be goaded.
@@theosalvucci8683 It's nice.
@@DavesClassicalGuide You're the best, Hurwitz. You make me laugh.
Heifetz/Munch first... Then come the others
My vote for the worst performance goes to Klemperer and Menuhin. I am a great Klemperer fan, especially in Beethoven but I sense a meeting of minds was pretty absent in this one. Also Menuhin's playing is pretty shaky and flaky at times. In my collection, but I didn't buy it!
A weird experience---years ago, in my callow youth, i bought an LP of the Menuhin / Klemperer Beethoven v.c. Not knowing much then, i expected it to be great (Menuhin being viewed at the time as a great guru, due to his "Music of Man" documentary TV series, and generally spoken of in reverential tones). What a disappointment, then, to discover that on the LP the solo violinist is very often a full quarter-tone sharper than the orchestra! Utterly excruciating! And how could no one--- whether Menuhin himself, "Klempa", the producers and / or sound engineers, etc.--- not notice this fact and correct things?
The story doesn't end there, however. Years later, while listening to the People's, err, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (back in the halcyon days when it actually regularly played classical music), i stumbled across a broadcast of the Beethoven v.c., with Sir Yehudi Menuhin as violin soloist and Otto Klemperer conducting, and behold and lo, the violin solo was in tune! How is that possible...? Goodness knows recording engineers have tricks up their sleeves, but how would they possibly correct an entire violin solo part while leaving the orchestral texture unchanged? Seems like a remarkable sleight-of-hand, to be sure, but dang Menuhin for not playing properly to begin with...
You reviewed the Mullova version with a period violin and didn’t conclude that it sucks.
I did review it and it's not with a "period violin" (whatever that is). It's a normal violin with a HIP accompaniment, as with several others.
@@DavesClassicalGuide She indicated in interviews she gave at the time that she was playing on gut strings. Or so it was reported in the Guardian and the Times, if memory serves.
@@msilverz Whatever she used, it sounds like a violin.
Oistrakh is my favorite violinist of all time, but I feel that his Beethoven lacks a certain forward momentum, so that he ends up getting lost in the beauties of the piece, lacking a sense of structure overall.