Our Summer BAL 54: Brahms Concerto for violin and cello

[Barbirollians]

Heard the Double Concerto in concert several times. Pleasant but it never moves me.

Try Suk/Navarra and you get a lovely Brahms 2 from Ancerl into the bargain.

[Stanfordian]

Try Suk/Navarra and you get a lovely Brahms 2 from Ancerl into the bargain.

Thanks Barbirollians. But no point I have several versions including that one.

[Barbirollians]

Ah well sometimes one just does not click with a piece .

[LeMartinPecheur]

Apart from the standard Oistrakh+Rostropovich and Oistrakh+Fournier I have the 1997 Kremer+Hagen/ Harnoncourt on Teldec. Think it must have been a random charity shop buy. Played it once and it was decent: must try it again in case it's better then that.

[BBMmk2]

Apart from the standard Oistrakh+Rostropovich and Oistrakh+Fournier I have the 1997 Kremer+Hagen/ Harnoncourt on Teldec. Think it must have been a random charity shop buy. Played it once and it was decent: must try it again in case it's better then that.

Apart from the standards!! Those are know ordinary standards but I see where you are coming from!

[LeMartinPecheur]

Apart from the standards!! Those are know ordinary standards but I see where you are coming from!

Sorry bbm, it was just that they seemed barely worth mentioning again on this thread

[Barbirollians]

According to Jacqueline du Pre's biography there was to be a version with her and Hugh Maguire on EMI but I think all the events around the 1967 Israel-Egypt war put an end to it and it was never revived as an idea .

Apparently , she gave a number of thrilling performances with Zukerman ( and I recall reading Barenboim saying how he wished a recording of one of them came to light ) but sadly of course it was in a disastrous performance with him and Bernstein she realised her career was over in 1973.

[Barbirollians]

I left off the Mutter/Meneses/Karajan which is another cracking performance .

Not it seems for Geraint Lewis in the Gramophone collection this month who gives it both barrels suggesting HVK takes it at half speed, that Meneses thinks he is du Pre playing Elgar and Mutter is edgy .

RO made it a Critics Choice in 1983 and described it as deserving of golden opinions though he definitely preferred the sound on the LP.

I find Lewis's criticisms bizarre . The andante is a true andante and quicker than Oistrakh/ Fournier/Galleira and although the outer movements are slower than that famous account not by that much. The criticism of Meneses does not seem made out at all and I think any edginess in Mutter's tone may be to do more with the early digital recording which is a bit glaring.

[jayne lee wilson]

One of the Gramophone Collection's final three was the 2017 CPO with Weithaas/Hornung/NDR/Manze, which I can only recommend very highly myself, especially as its outstanding c/w is the Schumann Violin Concerto, a work very close to my heart, beautifully done by Weithaas and her accompanists, with a lovely tempo giusto feel. Wonderful sound, as you'd expect from the label. Comes as close as any to that ever-receding "ideal"...

Surprised though by the omission from the Collection survey of the Kremer/Hagen/RCOA/Harnoncourt in the Op.102 - reviewed by RC in 11/97, and very positively too; excellent performance, very well recorded. That should have been another "modern choice"....(see the interview with Harnoncourt in the same issue).

[Goon525]

Not it seems for Geraint Lewis in the Gramophone collection this month who gives it both barrels suggesting HVK takes it at half speed, that Meneses thinks he is du Pre playing Elgar and Mutter is edgy .

RO made it a Critics Choice in 1983 and described it as deserving of golden opinions though he definitely preferred the sound on the LP.

Whatever CD player he was using in 1983 would not have given a fair account of the sound quality of the disc - that was the launch year.

[Bryn]

Whatever CD player he was using in 1983 would not have given a fair account of the sound quality of the disc - that was the launch year.

And many of the early digital transfers were not that hot, either.

[jayne lee wilson]

Whatever CD player he was using in 1983 would not have given a fair account of the sound quality of the disc - that was the launch year.

In Europe and worldwide, yes - but the Sony CDP-101 was released in Japan in October 1982.

HiFiNews has an excellent long-running series on vintage equipment, usually by Tim Jarman, and they've covered quite a few early CD players. Fascinating reading from the point of view of tech history, and how they sounded as they quickly developed. (Often better than you might expect).
Some were astoundingly elaborate and well built. The 1987 Cambridge CD-1 came in three substantial separate cases. Buying a few TDK-SAX90s, I recall eyeing it enviously on a local dealer's shelf.....

An assistant came over....."took that home for the weekend..." He said. "I wish I hadn't now, I can't enjoy my own anymore...."

[Barbirollians]

Yes - I ordered a copy of the later DG Gold CD coupled with Mutter's Brahms Violin Concerto - and the edginess does not appear to be present . I have a copy of the original issue ( also bought secondhand ) and that does sound rather more glaring.