Sunday 13 July 2008

At last: I was able to do some "back-list" listening! Handel's Tolomeo (Alan Curtis) as well as Vilmos Szabadi in Leo Weiner's two violin concertos, plus Joachim's Variations for Violin & Orchestra. If you put 20 music connoisseurs in a room and played them Leo Weiner's music, not one would be able to identify the music's time or place; it sounds like "post 1850" and a mixture of Bizet, Berlioz, Vaughan Williams and Mahler. Enjoyable, however.

To end the weekend: David Nadien in short salon pieces. He really was the most extraordinary unknown violinist; in this kind of music, fully the equal of Heifetz and Kreisler (and better, technically, than Kreisler). Thank goodness he left some recordings, and more than his close rival, Josef Hassid.

Good that I did some back-list this weekend, because next week sees the arrival of 3-CDs of Bach's "48", plus 3-CDs of symphonies by Albéric Magnard, plus a couple of other CDs.
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3 comments:

oisfetz said...

Well,Harry. If you keep slowly buying
CDs, is possible that in a few years
you can form a decent collection. When you got 10.000, you can stop.

14 July 2008 at 15:10
Anonymous said...

Nadien is really something - isn't he? Not a Heifetz imitation but he has his own unique manner too.

14 July 2008 at 22:44
Harry Collier said...

Inevitably, he was heavily influenced by Heifetz (who wasn't, during that period?) But he has his own sound (and own vibrato). An incredible technician, but also an exemplary stylist who can hold your attention through a dozen salon pieces. Listening to a "modern" violinist after Nadien -- Tasmin Little on her CD recital disc, for example -- one can hear the difference between chalk and cheese.

15 July 2008 at 08:40

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