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

[Stanfordian]

Has Bean become a has-been?
Don't think he got a mention, but I'm happy with his version and don't feel the need to supplement.

So many people including myself hold that view.

[silvestrione]

Just listened to this. I was going to joke that David Owen Norris won over Andrew McGregor 6-2, 6-2, 6-1, but really Elgar won, the music won. I didn't know the piece, but Norris was insightful and inspiring, and I'm looking forward to getting to know it well.

[Mal]

Bean gets panned in BBC Music Magazine, by Roderic Dunnett:

http://www.classical-music.com/review/elgar-45

[cloughie]

Worth bearing in mind that the Kennedy is on the upcoming 40 Years of Chandos box, if you might be considering getting that. I acquired the recording 10 years ago (tempus fugit) via the Chandos 30 box.

You’ll have to wait another week, the release has been delayed!

[sidneyfox]

Agree. Whatever DON has for breakfast I want it too. Surely his great knowledge and grasp of his subject, plus his consummate communication skills, could be put to greater use by the BBC. He did a superb piece for BBC Four a year or two ago about pianists which was a lesson in how to put a programme together which appeals to newcomers and experts alike. A rare skill.

Many of the long-standing older forum members appear to have enjoyed Owen Norris' broadcast. Could any of the younger (under 45?) newer forum members (joined in the last 5 years, say) give a view? Are you youngish, a newbie to classical music and a recent forum member and were enthused by today's BaL?

(I must say I think Owen Norris' ''consummate communication skills'' must have been a tad awry this morning, perhaps he over-breakfasted on whatever it is he has for breakfast).

[Pulcinella]

Bean gets panned in BBC Music Magazine, by Roderic Dunnett:

http://www.classical-music.com/review/elgar-45

Interesting!
The 2CD set mentioned in post #3 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Violin-Sona.../dp/B0001ZM8VI) gets an overall **(*) rating in the 2009 Penguin Guide, with this comment about the sonata:
The Violin Sonata has both an autumnal quality and a Brahmsian flavour, and it responds to ripe treatment such as Hugh Bean and David Parkhouse provide.

[visualnickmos]

Has Bean become a has-been?
Don't think he got a mention, but I'm happy with his version and don't feel the need to supplement.

Not in my books, he hasn't.
I read the Roderic Dunnett review (downthread post 63) and it confirms my long-held view that critiques/reviews or whatever, are very often not worth bothering with. Sounds like he has a personal gripe against Bean and Parkhouse, judging by his completely unconstructive words.

PS I stress the "very often" as opposed to "all" - they are not the same thing!

[Dave2002]

Many of the long-standing older forum members appear to have enjoyed Owen Norris' broadcast. Could any of the younger (under 45?) newer forum members (joined in the last 5 years, say) give a view? Are you youngish, a newbie to classical music and a recent forum member and were enthused by today's BaL?

(I must say I think Owen Norris' ''consummate communication skills'' must have been a tad awry this morning, perhaps he over-breakfasted on whatever it is he has for breakfast).

Amused to "learn" that E major has a D sharp!

[MrGongGong]

I remember Tasmin Little responding to a similar comment on her teacher, Menuhin's, playing a few years back. Yes, she said, but the frailty of the playing is what makes it so human, and helps us get to the heart of the music.

I agree with her. The problem here (for me) is the pianist, not the violinist. I wouldn't want to ditch YM's Elgar Sonata, any more than I could live without his Delius set (with Fenby) or his Walton concertos: all "late" Menuhin, all frail, all unforgettable.

This BaL will have me hauling out my Kennedy disc, for a reassessment. First time round I guess I was too awed by the playing to appreciate the music-making.

"Frailty"?
Out of tune, thin and shaky more like

I didn't find it "human" just incompetent and disappointing

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

"Frailty"?
Out of tune, thin and shaky more like

I didn't find it "human" just incompetent and disappointing

Does anyone know why this was? Physical problems? Anxiety?

[Barbirollians]

Bean gets panned in BBC Music Magazine, by Roderic Dunnett:

http://www.classical-music.com/review/elgar-45

With respect who is Roderic Dunnett ? A man either with a duff pressing or cloth ears.

In Gramophone , I see AA was complimentary about both performances in 1993 and 2004 , Roger Fiske pronounced that the violin sonata was very good in 1977 and in 1989 that great Elgarian Michael Kennedy said it captured exactly the spirit of the work .

Second only to Kennedy in my book.

[Tony Halstead]

Does anyone know why this was? Physical problems? Anxiety?

I have the Delius Sonatas (Menuhin and Fenby) recording, which is absolutely lovely.
It's very odd that, although Elgar was apparently a more expert violinist than was Delius, it's Elgar's violin writing that taxes Menuhin to the point where it sounds effortful and vulnerable. Very poignant, in view of the legendary, almost transcendental Concerto recording with EE himself, when Menuhin was a teenager.
Am I right in thinking that the YM Sonata recording dates from 1978? If so, I can recall that I myself witnessed / heard Sir Yehudi's bowing arm problems emerging several years before that: in or about 1973/1974 I was privileged to play the Lennox Berkeley Horn Trio in the Brighton Festival, with Sir Yehudi, and with David Atherton on the piano.
In the last movement there is a simple violin passage in the middle register, D and G strings, with staccato arpeggios and in quite a slow tempo. In the rehearsal, poor Yehudi sadly couldn't get anything like the controlled 'bow bounce' that this deceptively simple passage needs. David A and I were quite apprehensive about what would happen in the concert...but 'on the day', at the last minute as we were about to go on stage, Yehudi said to us "I phoned Lennox a few minutes ago about that tricky bit, and he said to play it pizzicato!"
This formerly problematic passage proved entirely successful, thank goodness!

[Goon525]

Not knowing the work at all, I’ve just listened to Nige, and am astonished by just how wonderful and sensitive his violin playing is. I know we’re not short of top class violinists at the moment, but he could surely have been one of them, had he made different life decisions. Peter Pettinger is very much willing to play second, er, fiddle, but this is a very successful recording, with sufficient space around the instruments to give some idea of the Bloomsbury church acoustic.

[pastoralguy]

Does anyone know why this was? Physical problems? Anxiety?

Menuhin's problems started as a child prodigy when his extremely overbearing mother refused to countenance ANY criticism from his teacher, the great Louis Persinger. There was an 'incidence' where Persinger dared to criticise the young Menuhin only to be forced to apologise for daring to find fault! Part of the problem with Menuhin was that he was such a natural that he was able to bypass the sheer drudgery that most fiddle players go through as youngsters. (Scales, Sevcick, Kreutzer, more scales, Dont, Gavinie, scales, scales and more scales!) Not terribly interesting BUT the groundwork required to have a reliable technique.

There's a story Menuhin told of him and his mother going to visit Ysaye. Menuhin played Lalo's 'Symphonie Espagnole' and the Bach Chaconne beautifully. Ysaye then asked him for some straightforward scales which Menuhin simply couldn't do. 'You would do well, Yehudi, to practice scales and arpeggios' came the withering response. Mrs. Menuhin did not encourage her child to return.

Afaik, the rot set in during the Second World War where Menuhin played daily for the troops over a period of years and he simply wasn't able to practice. And then he and Benjamin Britten visited Belsen after liberation. People who knew Menuhin said he was never the same after that. Although it's a long time since I've read his autobiography I recall that what he'd found so natural became difficult.

He could play really well but also very badly. A very sad position for such an incredibly talented man.

[pastoralguy]

Bean gets panned in BBC Music Magazine, by Roderic Dunnett:

http://www.classical-music.com/review/elgar-45

Total b****cks, imho! No, Hugh Bean isn't in the Menuhin, Perlman or Ida Haendel class but his understated playing in the slow movement of the Elgar Concerto is lovely.