Virtuosos in and out of fashion

[Barbirollians]

I was struck today by a charity shop find of how virtuosi can go in and out of fashion nowadays .

The CD was of Cho Liang Lin playing the Bruch 1 Mendelssohn and Vieuxtemps 5 on Sony . I hardly need any more recordings of any of these but CLL was a violinist of renown in the 1980s when I first became interested in classical music and one of my favourite Cassettes was his coupling of the Nielsen and Sibelius concertos with Salonen .

It is a lovely record and the Bruch 1 in particular has all the charm and warmth I found so missing from the Heifetz .

CLL still seems to be playing in the US but I wonder when he was last over here . He seems to have gone out of fashion as it seems soloists do - I wonder why that is ? His recordings I have from the 1980s seem to me a cut above many recent highly rated violinists .

[mikealdren]

Yes it's interesting how he has almost vanished, maybe he didn't like endless touring and has found himself an agreeable lifestyle teaching and playing in the US.

I also like his 1980s recordings but I don't find them a cut above the amazing range of violinists we are lucky enough to have at the moment, I consider we are in a real golden age. I have CDs by loads of fine violinists born since 1980 including:
Adele Anthony, Rachel Barton-Pine, Elizabeth Batiashvili, Sarah Chang, James Ehnes, Isabelle Faust, Julia Fischer, Vilde Frang, Ilya Gringolts, Hilary Hahn, Chloë Hanslip, Janine Jansen, Lara St John, Leila Josefowicz, Sergey Khachatryan, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Henning Kraggerud, Gotoh Midori, Vadim Repin, Gil Shaham, Baiba Skride, Maxim Vengerov, Tianwa Yang, Nikolaj Znaider, Tanja Becker-Bender, Alina Ibragimova and many others who are less well known.

Mike

[Barbirollians]

Yes it's interesting how he has almost vanished, maybe he didn't like endless touring and has found himself an agreeable lifestyle teaching and playing in the US.

I also like his 1980s recordings but I don't find them a cut above the amazing range of violinists we are lucky enough to have at the moment, I consider we are in a real golden age. I have CDs by loads of fine violinists born since 1980 including:
Adele Anthony, Rachel Barton-Pine, Elizabeth Batiashvili, Sarah Chang, James Ehnes, Isabelle Faust, Julia Fischer, Vilde Frang, Ilya Gringolts, Hilary Hahn, Chloë Hanslip, Janine Jansen, Lara St John, Leila Josefowicz, Sergey Khachatryan, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Henning Kraggerud, Gotoh Midori, Vadim Repin, Gil Shaham, Baiba Skride, Maxim Vengerov, Tianwa Yang, Nikolaj Znaider, Tanja Becker-Bender, Alina Ibragimova and many others who are less well known.


Mike

I said many not all ! There are some in your list whose recordings I have been disappointed by - technically sensational but not very moving .

[cloughie]

Yes it's interesting how he has almost vanished, maybe he didn't like endless touring and has found himself an agreeable lifestyle teaching and playing in the US.

I also like his 1980s recordings but I don't find them a cut above the amazing range of violinists we are lucky enough to have at the moment, I consider we are in a real golden age. I have CDs by loads of fine violinists born since 1980 including:
Adele Anthony, Rachel Barton-Pine, Elizabeth Batiashvili, Sarah Chang, James Ehnes, Isabelle Faust, Julia Fischer, Vilde Frang, Ilya Gringolts, Hilary Hahn, Chloë Hanslip, Janine Jansen, Lara St John, Leila Josefowicz, Sergey Khachatryan, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Henning Kraggerud, Gotoh Midori, Vadim Repin, Gil Shaham, Baiba Skride, Maxim Vengerov, Tianwa Yang, Nikolaj Znaider, Tanja Becker-Bender, Alina Ibragimova and many others who are less well known.

Mike

...maybe even Nicola Benedetti

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

His website suggests that he is still busy, touring and recording:

http://cholianglin.com/

I think that mike touches upon it - there are so many others around, and his own fine recordings don't receive as much public affection as do theirs. The CBS recordings Barbi mentions demonstrate the problem he had: in the more popular repertoire, there are so many other recordings - many of them considerably cheaper than the full-price CBS asked when they first came out - that only collectors with a few quid to spare bought them. With less well-known works, the wider audience just wasn't interested in sufficient numbers - it's a very conservative clientele, and people wanting the Sibelius wanted a more familiar coupling; so it was mainly the Nielsen work that attracted punters - and there aren't enough of them. After a dozen releases, his contract wasn't renewed; he wasn't bringing in enough money for CBS at a time when the whole industry was motivated by the values of a quick, and preferably huge, profit. I think that Cho-Liang Lin simply didn't fit the "profile". Many of the younger players have contracts with smaller recording companies, who aren't run chiefly by accountants.

[Barbirollians]

True enough he has made recordings for Naxos I see in more recent years in much less familiar repertoire . The Nielsen and Sibelius I had not listened to for a long time as my tape deck is now in the attic but digging it out last night it is still terrific and justified its rave review from Robert Layton in Gramophone .

[mikealdren]

I said many not all ! There are some in your list whose recordings I have been disappointed by - technically sensational but not very moving .

I certainly agree that not all on the list are to my taste but there are some superb musicians there. I particularly like Elizabeth Batiashvili, James Ehnes, Isabelle Faust, Vilde Frang, Hilary Hahn, Janine Jansen, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Henning Kraggerud, Midori, Vadim Repin, Gil Shaham, Baiba Skride and Tianwa Yang.

[mikealdren]

...maybe even Nicola Benedetti

Not for me, she's a fine player and a lovely lady but not really in the technical class of those in my list (and quite a lot of others too).

[mikealdren]

True enough he has made recordings for Naxos I see in more recent years in much less familiar repertoire . The Nielsen and Sibelius I had not listened to for a long time as my tape deck is now in the attic but digging it out last night it is still terrific and justified its rave review from Robert Layton in Gramophone .

I agree, the Sibelius/Nielsen is excellent and I suspect it sold quite well because there are usually lots of copies cheap on the internet - well worth replacing that old tape!

[pastoralguy]

Not for me, she's a fine player and a lovely lady but not really in the technical class of those in my list (and quite a lot of others too).

Wish I had her technique...

Actually, I've followed Nicola since she won Young Musician in the Usher Hall and I've been very interested to hear her playing develop. I think she makes a much better sound than she did as a youngster and I find her vibrato more focused. I always enjoy her playing both live and on cd. No, I don't think she's quite on the same level as Lisa Batiashvili , Vilde Frang or Janine Janson but she's certainly deserving of the career she's developing.

She's a real ambassador for classical music and such a lovely lady.

[pastoralguy]

Funnily enough, I was talking to a musical friend last night, (That's Dick, Mike), and I was saying that the only circumstances where I would buy a turntable for playing records would be if my lottery numbers came up and I could afford a super dooper one. I'd love to be able to play recordings of players whose work didn't make it to cd such as the late, great Mr. Alan Loveday who recorded a few vinyl discs in the 60's that, for whatever reason, have never made it to cd. I have an Lp of him playing some Beethoven sonatas which is extremely good as well as some solo Bach.

Steven Staryk also has recordings that never made it to cd and I'd love to hear them. My big hero, Igor Oistrakh, (who I'm listening to now playing the Brahms 1st and 2nd sonata), has a discography that also has cd gaps. I fear that these are names that are gradually falling into the realms of the cognoscenti. Oh, and Campoli. A wonderful player.

[pastoralguy]

Cho Liang Lin is one of the very few top rated players I've not heard live. A wonderful player, imvho.

[Barbirollians]

Funnily enough, I was talking to a musical friend last night, (That's Dick, Mike), and I was saying that the only circumstances where I would buy a turntable for playing records would be if my lottery numbers came up and I could afford a super dooper one. I'd love to be able to play recordings of players whose work didn't make it to cd such as the late, great Mr. Alan Loveday who recorded a few vinyl discs in the 60's that, for whatever reason, have never made it to cd. I have an Lp of him playing some Beethoven sonatas which is extremely good as well as some solo Bach.

Steven Staryk also has recordings that never made it to cd and I'd love to hear them. My big hero, Igor Oistrakh, (who I'm listening to now playing the Brahms 1st and 2nd sonata), has a discography that also has cd gaps. I fear that these are names that are gradually falling into the realms of the cognoscenti. Oh, and Campoli. A wonderful player.

Eloquence have announced that all Campoli's Decca recordings are going to be released by them this year . That does still leave the EMI Beethoven Concerto with Pritchard !

[pastoralguy]

Eloquence have announced that all Campoli's Decca recordings are going to be released by them this year . That does still leave the EMI Beethoven Concerto with Pritchard !

Fantastic!

[cloughie]

Fantastic!

Weren't most of his recordings on Beulah a few years back?