BaL 19.11.22 - Grieg: Violin Sonata no. 3

[Mal]

I don't know the work but was quite charmed by listening to the Grumiaux /Hadju version on You Tube today.

He's always charming, but Woolf suggests Grumiaux is less highly personalised, smaller toned, and less exciting than the best in Grieg. On listening to the opening five minutes I agree with him. Svarfvar/Kjekshus are far more exciting & committed - and much better recorded.

Did Heifetz ever record this? I can imagine him really tearing into that powerful opening!

[Mal]

* Jascha Heifetz, Emanuel Bay

Thanks Alpie!

Heifetz tears into it and rips it to shreds in a very rough recording, leaving Bay floundering in his wake. Can only Norwegians record this work? Gramophone reviewer perhaps capture's what's wrong with Heifetz's Grieg:

"... too tense and too concerned with projection, insufficiently intimate for this refined, somewhat elusive music... lack of dialogue..."

[Mal]

... Sergei Rachmaninov and Fritz Kreisler. I acquired it coincidentally as part of the 10CD RCA Rachmaninov as performer collection. Recorded in Berlin in 1928, it still sounds great with stylish playing, some violin swoops and sound balance slightly favouring the violin.

It's also available on Naxos, and can be found on Spotify. It does sound great... a little surface noise, but that hardly detracts. I was only going to listen to the opening but ended up listening to the whole performance. Given the prestige of the both performers this was never going to be less than a dialogue. Maybe a fight... but fortunately it's a dialogue! Given better recording, and genuine Scandi credentials, Svarfvar/Kjekshus still hold first place, for me, but this is an essential Historical supplement.

Rachmaninov once gave a recital in New York with Kreisler. Kreisler got into a muddle about where they were in the music. Panic stricken, he whispered to Rachmaninov. ‘Where are we’. The reply came back : ‘Carnegie Hall.’

[akiralx]

I’ve always liked the Dumay/Pires DG version of the First, one of my favourite violin sonatas, so be interesting to see how they fare.

[Darloboy]

Another work that's never been covered by BaL before. We seem to be alternating between warhorses and newbies...

[Mal]

I’ve always liked the Dumay/Pires DG version of the First, one of my favourite violin sonatas, so be interesting to see how they fare.

I thought they were magical in that slow movement clip! Highlight of the programme (beside Kreisler/Rachmaninov...) In sampling a few openings before the programme, I dismissed Dumay/Pires finding them a bitstuck in the mud there. But then, most everyone was sticking in the mud, somewhere, according to this reviewer.

From the clips, winner Josefowicz/Novacek didn't really grab me, maybe not stuck in the mud, but I didn't hear any magical moments.

[jch48]

I played the slow mvmt (piano part) at school. I got to know the rest of it in adulthood through radio3 I expect and it was one of my first download purchases. I find it a really enjoyable listen and am here to evangelise for it. I'm listening behind live having just recorded the first movement of a different sonata for an exam

[Goon525]

The winner, despite being on Philips, doesn’t seem to available via Qobuz. Most unusual.

[Bryn]

The winner, despite being on Philips, doesn’t seem to available via Qobuz. Most unusual.

Search for "For The End Of Time Josefowicz" without the quotes. The album is titled "For The End Of Time".

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/for-the-end-of-time-john-novacek/0002894830124

[Goon525]

Thanks for that, Bryn - really appreciated. There all the time, but rather hiding away under its Messiaenic title.

[Bryn]

Thanks for that, Bryn - really appreciated. There all the time, but rather hiding away under its Messiaenic title.

The QOBUZ search facility is not particularly friendly.

[Keraulophone]

I'm not familiar with any other of Grieg's output except the Piano Sonata, which I used to be able to play!

Thank you for mentioning the Piano Sonata, which I hadn’t known until you promoted me to download the Schirmer edition from IMSLP a few moments ago. An excitable concoction of Schubert, Schumann, Brahmsian tinges, local folk tunes and no doubt flecked Gade by the 22yo composer, with his initials E-H-G clearly stated in bar one. There’s a wax recording of Grieg in 1903 laying into the outer movements with great gusto. I’d like to hear that. Roughly Grade 8/dipABRSM level.

[Goon525]

The QOBUZ search facility is not particularly friendly.

Yes, weakest element of an otherwise excellent service.

[Pulcinella]

Thank you for mentioning the Piano Sonata, which I hadn’t known until you promoted me to download the Schirmer edition from IMSLP a few moments ago. An excitable concoction of Schubert, Schumann, Brahmsian tinges, local folk tunes and no doubt flecked Gade by the 22yo composer, with his initials E-H-G clearly stated in bar one. There’s a wax recording of Grieg in 1903 laying into the outer movements with great gusto. I’d like to hear that. Roughly Grade 8/dipABRSM level.

That will be why I was just about able to tackle it!
I hope your extra pay will come in useful in these straitened times: at least the music was free.

[Keraulophone]

I hope your extra pay will come in useful in these straitened times: at least the music was free.

Haha - promotion into the caring arms of the inflation-proofed state pension will arrive in the spring. Meanwhile, the abundance of downloadable free scores can lead this avid music fancier down many roads previously not taken.