BaL 5.06.21 - Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D

[Alison]

Interestingly though that he recorded very little Sibelius - he recorded the VC three times - Chung, Perlman and Mutter (Mrs P at the time).

Must investigate his Sibelius 2!

[Bryn]

Though easy to find on eg Qobuz.

Or listen to tomorrow night via Radio 3.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Interestingly though that he recorded very little Sibelius - he recorded the VC three times - Chung, Perlman and Mutter (Mrs P at the time).

I wonder why.He obviously had huge sympathy for the music and his Rach and Walton symphonic recordings are amongst the very best in the catalogue.

[mikealdren]

Leah Broad seems to be doing just fine. Plenty of knowledge well expressed, and loads of enthusiasm for the work and many of its interpreters. And we seem to be getting more than the now customary six or seven versions included.

Sadly an odd choice of versions discussed and some very notable exceptions. Why pick the bland and less than great versions from Humphries, Kuusisto and Kraggerud and ignore Batiashvili, Frang and Repin as well as the many greats from the past. Oistrakh with Ormandy for instance would seem to tick all her boxes and is far superior to most of her other choices.

As to the comment that Sibelius paid Ida Haendel a rare compliment, it wasn't really so rare, Sibelius admired Camilla Wicks and she made a famous recording and played it for his 85th birthday. Sibelius also admired Guilia Bustabo and remarked that she ‘played it exactly as I imagined it when I wrote it’.

After Heifetz, most of the early recordings were by women, in addition to Wicks, there were also fine performances by Neveu and Ignatius

[mikealdren]

My impression was that the overall acoustic fairly closely matched the sound heard in the Gallery of the RAH.

The strange thing is, I have that CD and it did not strike me as being as bad as it sounded this morning.

I listened to a wide range of versions recently and I have to agree about the distant sound. The ethereal opening of Kyung Wha Chung's excellent version with Previn is disfigured by what sounds like a passing tube train; Kingsway Hall? Perlman's 'powerful performance' not doubt is partially due to the violin being balanced to totally dominate the orchestra.

[LHC]

Interestingly though that he recorded very little Sibelius - he recorded the VC three times - Chung, Perlman and Mutter (Mrs P at the time).

Mutter and Previn recorded the Sibelius VC in 1996, some 6 years before they were married.

[LMcD]

Yes a hugely underrated conductor IMV

Really? The coverage of, and reaction to, his death suggested otherwise, I would say.

[cloughie]

Yes a hugely underrated conductor IMV

I’ve never underrated him - as conductor, composer, arranger, pianist - as soloist, accompanist, in jazz he was the complete musician!

[Bryn]

I’ve never underrated him - as conductor, composer, arranger, pianist - as soloist, accompanist, in jazz he was the complete musician!

You forgot "as straight man to Eric".

[Ein Heldenleben]

Really? The coverage of, and reaction to, his death suggested otherwise, I would say.

I think there was a reaction to his ubiquity in the 70’s - the music night on BBC ONE, Morecambe and Wise. The ‘wonderful but only in a limited repertoire comments ‘ from the critics were typical . The LSO was very dubious initially at taking on a “Hollywood” conductor - there was quite a lot of bitchy stuff in Private Eye. Others, like Jeremy Siepmann for example , singled him out as a very fine pianist . At death I agree judgements were much fairer.

[cloughie]

You forgot "as straight man to Eric".

You mean he wasn’t a patch on Ernie so one area of doubt, and maybe Eric got them in the right order (if not the notes).

[cloughie]

I think there was a reaction to his ubiquity in the 70’s - the music night on BBC ONE, Morecambe and Wise. The ‘wonderful but only in a limited repertoire comments ‘ from the critics were typical . The LSO was very dubious initially at taking on a “Hollywood” conductor - there was quite a lot of bitchy stuff in Private Eye. Others, like Jeremy Siepmann for example , singled him out as a very fine pianist . At death I agree judgements were much fairer.

You mean the typical British approach to knock ‘em back if they are too successful. OK name me a bad recording he made with the LSO in the 70s!
...and also who else before or since has done as much to give a serious introduction of Classical music to a wider audience?

[Darloboy]

I think there was a reaction to his ubiquity in the 70’s - the music night on BBC ONE, Morecambe and Wise. The ‘wonderful but only in a limited repertoire comments ‘ from the critics were typical . The LSO was very dubious initially at taking on a “Hollywood” conductor - there was quite a lot of bitchy stuff in Private Eye. Others, like Jeremy Siepmann for example , singled him out as a very fine pianist . At death I agree judgements were much fairer.

And don't forget he co-wrote the score to Valley of the Dolls - a lowbrow kitsch-fest that was hated by the critics at the time.

I also think there was quite a lot of disapproval of his personal life in the 1970s.

[richardfinegold]

I am finding that these shoot outs don’t seem to have much relevance for me. So many favorites from the past that don’t get a mention -for me Francescatti, Stern , Oistrakh, Heifetz—and a need to concentrate on recent recordings, which in this work are usually dull. I have heard Batishivili and Kavakos in concert in Sibelius, and felt like they must be getting paid by the minute, no sense of drama at all.

[ardcarp]

As to the comment that Sibelius paid Ida Haendel a rare compliment

I think that was mentioned because Sibelius started the compliment off by complimenting himself on writing such a good concerto. That's how I perceived it anyway.