BaL 30.10.21 - Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor

[cloughie]

Milstein had the technique for it but not the depth of musicality . I have always found his accounts of the Beethoven and Brahms superficial.

You cannot be serious! These were the earliest ones I was brought up on - I’ve not listened to them for a while but I will again now. He didn’t record the Elgar - maybe Steinberg should have twisted his arm to do it when he recorded Enigma!

[Barbirollians]

Sorry but that is how I found his recordings with Steinberg - pretty but superficial .

[crb11]

Well, after all that I've no idea which, if any, current version to add to my library. I have the first Kennedy and the Hahn (as I'm such a fan of hers, but agree with DON). Anybody help? Sound must be good too. Enjoyed lots of the excerpts but they don't give me a sense of the the whole performance by any given performer. Nevertheless I always enjoy DON's broadcasts and learnt much I didn't know.

I'm in the same boat. I was struck by DON's description of the way Elgar had put various sections of the score round a room and asked a violinist friend what order they should go in. My struggle with this concerto has always been finding a performance that convinces me that it makes a coherent whole. I have Kennedy/Rattle, which doesn't, and be honest I don't warm to his style of playing generally, and Menuhin/Elgar, which is considerably better but I'd like one in better sound at least. I heard an excellent performance on the radio maybe ten years ago, but unfortunately don't have a clue whose it was. From the discussions above, I think Ehnes and Zehetmair are likely to be more to my taste, so will try them next.

[mikealdren]

No he did not . In the Beulah release of the Campoli the note mentions him playing it with Campoli but refusing to record it with anyone but Kreisler. This strikes me as odd as of course Gaisberg said FK refused to record it hence he went for Menuhin . I suppose FK might have offered to record it with Barbirolli rather than the composer but I have never seen any suggestion that was the case.

If Gaisberg asked Kreisler to record it in the 1930s, I suspect that Kreisler may well have felt it was too late for him, he was in his late 50s and his technique was not what it had been in 1910 at the premiere and the Elgar is a demanding work. The same would, of course, have applied to any possible recording with Barbirolli.

[Alison]

What I quite like is that in spite of any number of super virtuosos around these days the door is wide open for a version to truly sweep the board!

[Barbirollians]

I'm in the same boat. I was struck by DON's description of the way Elgar had put various sections of the score round a room and asked a violinist friend what order they should go in. My struggle with this concerto has always been finding a performance that convinces me that it makes a coherent whole. I have Kennedy/Rattle, which doesn't, and be honest I don't warm to his style of playing generally, and Menuhin/Elgar, which is considerably better but I'd like one in better sound at least. I heard an excellent performance on the radio maybe ten years ago, but unfortunately don't have a clue whose it was. From the discussions above, I think Ehnes and Zehetmair are likely to be more to my taste, so will try them next.

Martin Cotton chose Zehetmair in 2012 and I think it is very fine , probably my favourite modern version. If you can handle Menuhin’s occasional frailties the 1965 recording with Boult as a whole is very satisfying. Ehnes is very episodic I think Little much the better of the Andrew Davis recordings.

[Barbirollians]

If Gaisberg asked Kreisler to record it in the 1930s, I suspect that Kreisler may well have felt it was too late for him, he was in his late 50s and his technique was not what it had been in 1910 at the premiere and the Elgar is a demanding work. The same would, of course, have applied to any possible recording with Barbirolli.

I agree and according to an article on the BBC website by Adrian Jack Kreisler had cooled to the work and made cuts when he played it .

Barbirolli performed it 29 times according to the Holden book on his concert career. In the 1960s only with the Halle leader Martin Milner.

[Nick Armstrong]

Very interesting edition. Wasn’t that enthralled with the Kennedy ending, I prefer more poise.

A swimmy acoustic for Tazza?

Agreed on all counts.

The survey has sent me to the Graffin/Handley reading, which I didn’t know at all and which sounded wonderful

[Cockney Sparrow]

Iirc, Tasman Little’s has a track that has the cadenza arranged by Elgar for violin and harp. I believe it was recorded thus by Marie Hall in the very abridged version in the very early days of recorded sound.

IIRC PG, you had some enthusiasn for Rachel Barton Pine / Andrew Davis on AVIE when it came out. (Probably buried in one of the mega "What ...I am listening to..." threads).

I don't recall it being referred to, in either the BAL or this thread. In retrospect, what do you think about it, PG?

[BBMmk2]

Agreed on all counts.

The survey has sent me to the Graffin/Handley reading, which I didn’t know at all and which sounded wonderful

Graffin/Handley? I didn’t know about this recording. Kennedy/Handley, yes.

My favourites are Little, Hugh Bean and both of Kennedy’s.

[Alison]

Quite intriguing that DON welcomed recklessness at the end of the concerto while preferring a straight orchestral introduction.

An enjoyable morning spent listening again to the Rachel Barton Pine recording. A very satisfyingly deep violin tone to my ears and some truly gasp inducing beauty of phrasing in (for example) the second subject.

Rachel finds an ideal partner in the ever interesting Andrew Litton. Any lover of this concerto needs to hear this version which also boasts a perfect ending to the work Imho, full of poise and thoughtfulness with an appropriate blaze to the final flourish. Tremendous timpani on last chord if that sort of thing bothers you :-)

[pastoralguy]

IIRC PG, you had some enthusiasn for Rachel Barton Pine / Andrew Davis on AVIE when it came out. (Probably buried in one of the mega "What ...I am listening to..." threads).

I don't recall it being referred to, in either the BAL or this thread. In retrospect, what do you think about it, PG?

Many thanks for asking, CS. I’ll listen over the weekend.

[Barbirollians]

I still hope Vilde Frang and MGT will record it after their dazzling CBSO performance.

They are combining to play it again in Birmingham in the 2022-2023 season. That’s a ticket to get.

[Barbirollians]

Been listening to the Capucon/Rattle the last few days now Amazon had reduced its price and I am rather taken with it.

[akiralx]

I note that this appears to be the one major work of Elgar Barenboim has not re-recorded in his Berlin Staatskapelle series.

He hasn’t done the Enigma Variations has he?