BaL 15.06.19 - Elgar: Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82

[Pulcinella]

This is a work that won me a scholarship and a Chamber music prize at college! For me, Nigel Kennedy plays it like no one else.

So how did it get attributed to Elgar?

[verismissimo]

I appear to have three recordings of the sonata (first perf 1919) - all on LP - Sammons and Murdoch (1935), Loveday and Cassini (1963) and Bean and Parkhouse (1971). Curiously, only the first of those is in Alpie's fine list.

I shall have much pleasure comparing and contrasting them next week.

[Edgy 2]

Lydia Mordkovitch with Julian Milford on Chandos is a wonderful recording.
I also have Hugh Bean,Nigel Kennedy and the Menuhins.

[mikealdren]

Was a bit shocked to find no CD version on the shelves and just the one LP - the Weiss Duo, Sidney and Jeanne, he a former concertmaster of the Chicago SO, on Unicorn coupled with the Walton sonata. So I shall probably be listening plastic card in hand

The LP sleeve tells me I could also have snapped up the Weisses in a stratospherically un-obvious coupling, the R Strauss Sonata op18 with a Haydn Concerto in F for violin, keyboard and strings Wonder how many of this Unicorn Records sold!

My first LP was also the Weiss duo but with the much more appropriate coupling of the Walton sonata, a very unusual coupling for an american soloist in those days.

Other recordings I have include Marat Bisengaliev, also nla and good.

[LeMartinPecheur]

My first LP was also the Weiss duo but with the much more appropriate coupling of the Walton sonata, a very unusual coupling for an american soloist in those days.

Other recordings I have include Marat Bisengaliev, also nla and good.

The two English sonatas and the Strauss have made it onto a CD in the States: Marketplace copies still available on riverpeople.com. I see that Mr Weiss went on to lead the LAPO after making his Unicorn discs and his spell as CSO concertmaster.

[Master Jacques]

As a devoted admirer of Little and Roscoe (amongst other lovely performances in this well-served sonata) I simply pray that David Owen Norris is allowed free rein, without the coffee table inanities we get from twofers. I want to know what he has to say, and bet they'll be no "But are we in England?" or "This is a real Red Riding Hood moment!"

[Mal]

Sad to see that the incomparable Hugh Bean recording seems not to have made it to CD format.

Third Ear do a lot of comparing to Bean I have McAslan and Blakeley's performance; Third Ear suggests that, compared to Bean, it is a "leaner, angular approach... in some ways more elegant and searching". I certainly agree with that "elegant and searching", and think it will be difficult to push out of my library spot. Note, it is still available on CD.

[BBMmk2]

As a devoted admirer of Little and Roscoe (amongst other lovely performances in this well-served sonata) I simply pray that David Owen Norris is allowed free rein, without the coffee table inanities we get from twofers. I want to know what he has to say, and bet they'll be no "But are we in England?" or "This is a real Red Riding Hood moment!"

I love their recording. Most rewarding listening.

[verismissimo]

Oistrakh, Heifetz, Mutter, Milstein, Chung, Perlman, Stern, Accardo, Zukerman, Kogan, Szigeti, Ricci, Haendel, Campoli, Grumiaux, Suk …

Where were they? Beneath them?

[pastoralguy]

Oistrakh, Heifetz, Mutter, Milstein, Chung, Perlman, Stern, Accardo, Zukerman, Kogan, Szigeti, Ricci, Haendel, Campoli, Grumiaux, Suk …

Where were they? Beneath them?

Well, these wonderful players all recorded for big companies who probably had accounts departments suggesting what could be recorded and what couldn't. Lets not kid ourselves that record companies don't have an eye on the bottom line when it comes to releasing 'product'. It's worth mentioning that David Oistrakh, Mutter, Milstein, Stern, Kogan, Szigeti, Ricci, Grumiaux and Suk didn't record the violin concerto either. That in no devalues the merit of the work in question. (I believe that David Oistrakh did play the Elgar Concerto but there's no commercial recording of it, afaik. I've always hoped a radio recording may turn up one day! IGOR Oistrakh did play and record it).

Actually, come to think of it, Oistrakh, father and son, Mutter, Stern, Zukerman, Kogan, Szigeti, Ricci and Campoli didn't record cycles of the Bach Sonatas and Partitas. And I'm damn sure that those Bach works are not/were beneath them!

I do believe that Milstein HATED the Elgar Concerto and refused to have anything to do with it!

The Lekeu Sonata is a wonderful work too but relatively few violinists have recorded it.

[mikealdren]

Oistrakh, Heifetz, Mutter, Milstein, Chung, Perlman, Stern, Accardo, Zukerman, Kogan, Szigeti, Ricci, Haendel, Campoli, Grumiaux, Suk …

Where were they? Beneath them?

Until relatively recently, the Elgar concerto wasn't played (or recorded) very often and rarely outside the UK and, Mutter apart, these fine players were from earlier generations. To me the great surprise is not that they didn't record it but that Heifetz did.

I echo PG's hope that David Oistrakh's performance does resurface one day soon.

[pastoralguy]

Until relatively recently, the Elgar concerto wasn't played (or recorded) very often and rarely outside the UK and, Mutter apart, these fine players were from earlier generations. To me the great surprise is not that they didn't record it but that Heifetz did.

I echo PG's hope that David Oistrakh's performance does resurface one day soon.

Surprisingly, Gideon Kramer played it at a Queen Elisabeth of the Belgiums competition in the 1970's. Not a flawless performance but very good. I did wonder if he'd studied it with David Oistrakh.

[Pulcinella]

Surprisingly, Gideon Kramer played it at a Queen Elisabeth of the Belgiums competition in the 1970's. Not a flawless performance but very good. I did wonder if he'd studied it with David Oistrakh.

Did he hand out bibles instead of playing an encore, pg?


Gidon Kremer came third in 1967, according to Wiki:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elisabeth_Competition

I have heard of only very few of those listed, and am not aware of having heard any of the compositions that won.
Has anybody else?

[Mal]

Third Ear do a lot of comparing to Bean I have McAslan and Blakeley's performance; Third Ear suggests that, compared to Bean, it is a "leaner, angular approach... ".

That was from my memory of playing it a few years ago, but now I listen to it again and Penguin's criticisms of this CD seem valid (it gets their dreaded two and half stars which usually means significant problems!) The critics seem split amongst most of the recommendations people have made on this thread so this BAL should be very interesting... especially as I'm now looking for something less "lean and angular" (i.e., something with less early digital harshness, less inferior recording,... and a lot more Elgarian warmth...)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

That was from my memory of playing it a few years ago, but now I listen to it again and Penguin's criticisms of this CD seem valid

Bean or McAslan, Mal?