Wonders will never cease. This evening I found myself enjoying, for the first time in quite a while, a performance of ... the Brahms Violin Concerto! The pleasure was due to the playing of Christian Tetzlaff who played in "the old way", bringing back memories of Szigeti, Morini, Sevcik, Schneiderhan, et al. His tempi were similar to those of Szigeti and Heifetz in the 1930s: no wallowing, no dragging things out. Makes you realise how Oistrakh, Menuhin et al changed ones perceptions of the Brahms concerto.
The admirable Tetzlaff performance (courtesy of Akiko Kose) came from 28 January 2006 with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Herbert Blomstedt. If I ever played the Brahms violin concerto, this is how I would like to play it. I must investigate Tetzlaff further.
Personal journal dealing mainly with music listened to, plus various food and wine matters. Rants at a few favourite topics.
Harry Collier
My collection of recordings
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(96)
-
▼
May
(12)
- An unusual evening (musically) in that it was devo...
- Georg Friderick Händel was born on the 23 February...
- On a second hearing, I quite took to the Op 22 str...
- Two lots of Bruch's first violin concerto: Vadim R...
- In Brussels, my friend Daniel extols the virtues o...
- Shostakovich again this evening (third string quar...
- Revelling in my new pile of 11 CDs awaiting listen...
- Wonders will never cease. This evening I found mys...
- Downloading a 1928 recording of Beethoven's "Ghost...
- Back in England, at last. And the sun is shining a...
- Ordered five new CDs that should be waiting for me...
- In America for two weeks, so not a good period for...
-
▼
May
(12)
2 comments:
Harry - how do you like the Milstein & Fistoulari Brahms VC? Timings should be comparable with Heifetz.
I heard Tetzlaff in LvB live here in KL with the Budapest FO & I Fischer. I was in the front stall seats but did not like his tone from his modren Peter Greiner violin
There are fashions in sounds and styles of playing. I actually like Tetzlaff's violin sound in this music and am becoming somewhat jaded with the constant emphasis on a rich, creamy, dreamy violin sound that has become almost de rigeur since the 1950s (popularised by players such as Menuhin, Oistrakh, Rabin and Perlman). If we go back to earlier styles -- Sevcik, Morini, Scheiderhan, Szigeti -- we find there are different sound canvases. I enjoy Tetzlaff's style in this Brahms concerto, as I do his tempi that fit well with those of players such as Milstein, Heifetz and Schneiderhan. I have to confess that when I listen to a new recording of the Brahms Violin Concerto and hear the opening allegro non troppo (my emphasis) stretching to eternity, I fall asleep.
Post a Comment