BaL 7.01.17 - Schubert: Fantasie for Violin & Piano in C, D934

[aeolium]

I thought it was a pretty fair survey, and it was good to hear the Busch/Serkin extracts.

Menuhin also recorded the work with Britten but I didn't get a sense of a real partnership from that recording (sound quality didn't help).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The recommended version is very fine, though I preferred the runner-up: Alina Ibragimova & Cédric Tiberghien

Ah! I was (and still am) very tempted by AI & CT, until the way they played the big, interrupted cadence in the last extract played from their recording - their otherwise astonishing and Musical sense of pace then led them rather to dash over the moment (which, if Bruckner didn't know when he wrote the Slow Movement of his Eighth Symphony, I shall bake a cake in the shape of a hat and eat it). I much preferred Faust's handling of the moment - that, and the Fischer (and the Busch) shall eventually be added to my collection. (As, indeed, will the AI/CT if I see a bargain version or second-hand copy going cheaply - or if my Premium Bonds get lucky.)

[Richard Tarleton]

The recommended version is very fine, though I preferred the runner-up: Alina Ibragimova & Cédric Tiberghien

So did I - just ordered! I also loved the Menuhin extract.

A nicely laid-out BAL I thought - let's hear it for scripted BALs.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I thought it was a pretty fair survey, and it was good to hear the Busch/Serkin extracts.

Yes, I thought it was very good - judicious assessments, each performance fairly commented upon (she was listening out for what was good about them, not pouncing on flaws), and no "clever" comments; and a selection of excellent "winners" to choose from. A little "rushed" in delivery, but that was the fault of the programme - really, more time needs to be given to BaL; it's the most important part of Record Review, and using the same time span from when the format was created - at a time when there were perhaps only half-a-dozen or so available recordings to discuss - is no longer adequate to purpose.


A couple of minor niggles: the old cliché about the piano tremolos being "string-like"; they're not - on a piano, the internal construction of the body creates a very different sonority and effect than that from a (solo/ensemble) string sound. And the idea that the structure of a Fantasy is "less strong" than those of other forms! Less "predictable", certainly (and therefore more difficult to follow at the first few hearings) - but to suggest that the structure here, or in the Wanderer Fantasy isn't as strong as in the Sonatas is one that I think doesn't bear much scrutiny.


Picky, picky, picky ... an exemplary BaL, I kept thinking.

[BBMmk2]

Yes, a fair survey but rather mumbled in places. I could hardly hear her properly. It's a pity they cannot be more improvisatory in their approach.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

(which, if Bruckner didn't know when he wrote the Slow Movement of his Eighth Symphony, I shall bake a cake in the shape of a hat and eat it).

I see you are trying to avoid a Gary Lineker moment.

[Beef Oven!]

To be avoided at all costs.

[mikealdren]

I was away so only listened on the car radio, I'll listen again in better sound tomorrow.

I was particuarly pleased that she played clips without telling us who was playing, it mean't I could avoid any preconceptions. I didn't really like Fischer much, it seemed too studied and didn't seem to sing and flow freely enough whereas I found Faust superb. Alina Ibragimova was too easily spotted but, despite finding her playing to 'wispy' as usual, I did enjoy much of her performance. The Busch/Serkin was also marvellous, I hadn't heard it in years but it was every bit as good as I remembered.

As to the others, it did reinforce my view of how difficult this piece is to bring off! Given the number of older performances, it was a shame not to hear the excellent Oistrakh.

[Karafan]

A little "rushed" in delivery, but that was the fault of the programme - really, more time needs to be given to BaL; it's the most important part of Record Review, and using the same time span from when the format was created - at a time when there were perhaps only half-a-dozen or so available recordings to discuss - is no longer adequate to purpose.

Quite agree about the far too short a duration for BaL, an hour at least would be preferable.
K.

[BBMmk2]

I think that's what I really meant with my early comment of being too scripted and not a improvisatory kind of approach but with limitations on timings, maybe the reviewer did felt pressurised.