Thursday 29 December 2011

I finished listening today to all six CDs of Josef Suk recordings from the 1950s and 60s. Not too much to add concerning my deep admiration for Suk's violin playing: accurate, silky but not over-sweet, intensely musical and, in the duos, with the real musicianship of a superb chamber music player. I would just add that I enjoyed all 26 works on the discs – even including the works by Jaroslav Jezek and Arthur Honegger. And never once in all 26 works did I have any doubts concerning the tempi adoped by Suk and his collaborators (who include AndrĂ© Navarra). Most unusual (I often find performers post-1960 tend to err on the slow side). A great box, and I'm glad I bought it. Very hard to think of a modern violinist who could give so much pleasure for over six hours in such varied repertoire.

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