BaL 12.1.19 - Prokofiev: Violin concerto 1 in D

[Barbirollians]

It was a BAL that generally accorded with my view of the piece especially where Ehnes and Vengerov were concerned but I thought her criticisms of Chung/Previn were pretty much rubbish and the RNO did not sound very dumpy to me with Fischer.

It was disappointing she missed out Stern’s much most celebrated recording and the Zimmerman did very little for me .

The Frang ,however,deserves all her plaudits.

The only odd thing was her failure to play anything from Oistrskh’s classic 1954 record.

[Beef Oven!]

Absolutely agree. But, Beefo, pace Kate Molleson's well-argued advocacy of Frang & Zimmermann, who are excellent in very different ways, your admiration for KWC hits a chord here, despite KM's unexplained strictures of narcissism (?) . In the early 70s, partnered by AP & the LSO, & presented in classic Decca/Kingsway Hall sound, KWC, a pupil of Szigeti -- one of SP's early adopters, after all -- had a hotline to whatever makes this bridge between romanticism & modernity the miracle it is. Like Pastoralguy & Ed I wore out my old LP of Stern/Philadelphia/Ormandy, & wouldn't part with Oistrakh/LSO/Matacic, but KWC rivals the Big Man from Odessa (& Stern) while AP & the 70's LSO have everything in the locker, so to speak, which neither Søndergård's WDR nor Maazel's BPO do -- listen to the FPZ/Maazel finale, where the bassoonist, who after all has the big tune at the start of the movement, gets carried away later on...either that or the engineer has fallen asleep & inadvertently turned up the bassoon microphone to 11...

For some reason, I do not feel the urge to obtain another recording, even though the recommendation is available in my preferred medium (download) for a mere £6.99. I shall stick with my Chung/Previn and enjoy it whenever I whip it out, as I have done down the years.

Regarding the BaL broadcast, I didn't enjoy it. KM often confused me and I found her a bit dull.

[BBMmk2]

You must try to make that the rule, rather than the exception - reviews are a very secondary and marginal consideration ..............

I usually go by my own judgement.

[Beef Oven!]

I usually go by my own judgement.

Best way

[mikealdren]

I think that Frang is one of the top few violinists playing nowadays.

I agree that Frang is one of the top violinists playing nowadays, but one of the few? We are in a golden age of violinists and she has lots of rivals. Elizabeth Batiashvili, Sarah Chang, James Ehnes, Isabelle Faust, Julia Fischer, Hilary Hahn, Alina Ibragimova, Janine Jansen, Leonidas Kavakos, Gidon Kremer, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Gotoh Midori, Viktoria Mullova, Vadim Repin, Gil Shaham, Baiba Skride, Christian Tetzlaff, Maxim Vengerov and Tianwa Yang spring to mind, there are others.....

As to the BaL, I enjoyed it, it's easy to complain about subjective views but I was very pleased she seemed to have listened to and considered a wide range of recordings - very few omissions. As an Oistrakh fan, I would have preferred an earlier recording to have been played, his playing , though still excellent, was certainly less good at the end of his life, the vibrato was a bit too throbbing at times. As commented above, I also rate Julia Fischer's performance highly and like the orchestral accompaniment too.

[Pulcinella]

To me, but not it seems to those at W1A, what we really need is a return of Interpretations on record.
To supplement/complement BaL, of course, not replace it.

[cloughie]

To me, but not it seems to those at W1A, what we really need is a return of Interpretations on record.
To supplement/complement BaL, of course, not replace it.

:

[teamsaint]

To me, but not it seems to those at W1A, what we really need is a return of Interpretations on record.
To supplement/complement BaL, of course, not replace it.

And also Discovering Music, of course. I guess quite a lot of people use BaL as a substitute, on occasions.

Quite how the thinking goes that R3 shouldnt have a programme of this sort is hard to imagine.

[cloughie]

And also Discovering Music, of course. I guess quite a lot of people use BaL as a substitute, on occasions.

Quite how the thinking goes that R3 shouldnt have a programme of this sort is hard to imagine.

Paul Jones after he left Manfred Mann had a single ‘Thinkin’ aint for me’ -we’ll dedicate it to the R3 management. I know it was on R4 but I always liked Hopkins ‘Talking about music’. The style of that would fit nicely into the Essential Classics approach to introducing full works to new listeners.

[Stanfordian]

For some reason, I do not feel the urge to obtain another recording, even though the recommendation is available in my preferred medium (download) for a mere £6.99. I shall stick with my Chung/Previn and enjoy it whenever I whip it out, as I have done down the years.

Regarding the BaL broadcast, I didn't enjoy it. KM often confused me and I found her a bit dull.

Chung/Previn is my first choice too.

[BBMmk2]

Chung/Previn is my first choice too.

Thank goodness I'm not alone!

[Beef Oven!]

Chung/Previn is my first choice too.

I prefer it over the Frang. I've only listened to the Frang once via streaming and found it a little too light/playful (?) Not sure what I mean. The Chung/Previn sounds more robust, for the want of a better way of putting it. More solid playing from Chung and her violin sounds better than Frang's!! Funny enough, apart from the snippets on the BaL, these are the only two Prok vc1s I've heard all the way through (apart from a few live concerts that I've attended).

On a third listen-through of the BaL earlier this morning, I quite liked the Vengerov sample.

Edit: I listened to the Frang again, I found it un-involving. Perhaps I'm subconsciously trying to reinforce my preference for the Chung? Maybe I need to come back to it another time.

[BBMmk2]

Beefy, you could be right, re your Edit. paragraph.

[edashtav]

Beefy, you could be right, re your Edit. paragraph.

My Frang CD is yet to arrive: will I find it as warm and sweet as frangipane, or something a tad frigid?

[BBMmk2]

My Frang CD is yet to arrive: will I find it as warm and sweet as frangipane, or something a tad frigid?

Look forward to seeing what your thoughts are!