relistening britten violin concerto

[arthroceph]

Hi,

I first bought the Ida Haendel recording many years ago on a EMI Greensleeves cassette, and enjoyed it quite alot. I was into "textures" alot then and it seemed to have plenty of them.

So I've been relistening and I have to say that it's openend a good few new avenues. I suddenly find it quite melodic and I seem to be able to trace a storyline in it (like, it's not just a series of clever variations). However, what I _do_ find is that it's rather unBrittenesque, if I may coin a phrase. Has anybody else found that?. Or maybe I'm just too immature in my Britten appreciation (let me face it: yes).

Anyhow, just thought I'd pop that in, for no particular reason and also maybe to say that it's solid and worth anyone's time in stupified looped-listening.

[amateur51]

Hi,

I first bought the Ida Haendel recording many years ago on a EMI Greensleeves cassette, and enjoyed it quite alot. I was into "textures" alot then and it seemed to have plenty of them.

So I've been relistening and I have to say that it's openend a good few new avenues. I suddenly find it quite melodic and I seem to be able to trace a storyline in it (like, it's not just a series of clever variations). However, what I _do_ find is that it's rather unBrittenesque, if I may coin a phrase. Has anybody else found that?. Or maybe I'm just too immature in my Britten appreciation (let me face it: yes).

Anyhow, just thought I'd pop that in, for no particular reason and also maybe to say that it's solid and worth anyone's time in stupified looped-listening.

It's a wonderful piece I agree arthroceph and you chose a cracking performance too. I can recall the time/place that I first heard it, the Rodney Friend recording, because I was both shocked and delighted by how 'different' and 'difficult' it sounded initially and yet by the time of re-hearing it (the next day) I was sufficiently familiar with its surprises and delights to be able to anticipate the progress of the piece (I am not a musician and sadly not a score reader).

Here's to several listening opportunities on Radio 3 (I hope) in this celebratory year

[Serial_Apologist]

However, what I _do_ find is that it's rather unBrittenesque, if I may coin a phrase. Has anybody else found that?. Or maybe I'm just too immature in my Britten appreciation (let me face it: yes).

I'm with you on the VC, arthroceph - except I would add that the same goes for much of Britten's music up to the time of its composition (1939); which is probably why it is the early period which I go for.

[Ferretfancy]

It's interesting that Britten's earlier works only came into their own during the stereo heyday in the 1960s largely thanks to Decca. A good example is the Lubotsky recording of the Violin Concerto, coupled with a splendid Richter performance of the Piano Concerto. Neither pieces were at all well known until this disc appeared, and it is still a great pair of performances.

arthroceph, I think you would enjoy the Piano Concerto which owes quite a bit to Prokofiev, but no harm in that !

[arthroceph]

Fabulous replies, many thanks to all!

[Barbirollians]

Ah - the Ida Haendel recording of the Britten Concerto - still unsurpassed in my opinion and it was my door into Britten's music - having found the vocal music I had heard before unattractive - the Spring Symphony .

[visualnickmos]

Ah - the Ida Haendel recording of the Britten Concerto - still unsurpassed in my opinion...

Agree - and the coupling of Walton's violin concerto takes it into the top 100 CDs of all time (shall I audition for a job on 'you know where?!)

But back to post: I have listened to Haendl's recording back-to-back with Lubotsky's recording and what a fascinating listen it was. Two versions that are wonderful in every, but different ways. Full marks to them both.

[Tevot]

I love the VC

Here are a couple of links that members might find of interest:

http://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/20103/11103/

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/w/55604/Benjamin-Britten-Violin-Concerto-in-D-minor-Op-15

It is interesting to read posts #1, #3 and #4 about the 'early period' being un-brittenesque because that is the thing that to my ears makes the Piano Concerto less convincing, urgent and 'real' if you will than the VC. The Piano Concerto to me doesn't cohere and seems derivative (yes it sounds like Prokofiev and i'd say that wasn't a plus point...) I sense that the PC might be a technical exercise whereas the VC is a more personal and immediate response to the times in which it was written. 1939. The writing is well and truly on the wall - as is very much the case with another VC written that year - Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Concerto Funebre.


On the other hand - what remarkable pieces for a guy still in his mid twenties!!

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[Serial_Apologist]

I love the VC

Here are a couple of links that members might find of interest:

http://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/20103/11103/

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/w/55604/Benjamin-Britten-Violin-Concerto-in-D-minor-Op-15

It is interesting to read posts #1, #3 and #4 about the 'early period' being un-brittenesque because that is the thing that to my ears makes the Piano Concerto less convincing, urgent and 'real' if you will than the VC. The Piano Concerto to me doesn't cohere and seems derivative (yes it sounds like Prokofiev and i'd say that wasn't a plus point...) I sense that the PC might be a technical exercise whereas the VC is a more personal and immediate response to the times in which it was written. 1939. The writing is well and truly on the wall - as is very much the case with another VC written that year - Karl Amadeus Hartmann's Concerto Funebre.


On the other hand - what remarkable pieces for a guy still in his mid twenties!!

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[Barbirollians]

Agree - and the coupling of Walton's violin concerto takes it into the top 100 CDs of all time (shall I audition for a job on 'you know where?!)

Agree 100% - first choice in both pieces IMO.

[Stanfordian]

Ah - the Ida Haendel recording of the Britten Concerto - still unsurpassed in my opinion and it was my door into Britten's music - having found the vocal music I had heard before unattractive - the Spring Symphony .

Hiya Barbirollians,

I too love the Ida Haendel recording of the Britten Violin Concerto with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. I saw her perfroming the work at the Free Trade Hall in the late 1970s or early 80s. A more recent account of the Britten Violin Concerto that I greatly admire is by Janine Jansen with the Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Paavo Järvi on Decca.

[pastoralguy]

Tasmin Little is very good indeed in her new recording but, IMHO, no one can hold a candle to Ida Haendel.

[HighlandDougie]

Having started - and finished - with the Ida Haendel, I've been subjecting the local paysans to a morning of different recordings (Grumlikova, Lubotsky, Haendel, Vengerov, Hope, Zimmerman, Jansen, Marwood and Little) as I've been trying to figure out quite what it is about her recording that makes it stand out in a very distinguished field of recordings. I don't have an answer but there is a particular intensity to her playing which takes the work somewhere beyond being a virtuoso showpiece. She makes it sound, I don't know, dangerous (there is an edge to her playing at times which makes it almost uncomfortable listening). Much as I greatly like Grumlikova, Jansen and Little among the more introverted performances and Lubotsky and Zimmerman among the more obviously virtuosic, she is still pretty much hors concours in this work. It makes her omission from the BaL all the more puzzling. I haven't heard the recent Ehnes performance (much praised in the newspapers) and was about to download it when I saw PG's less than enthusiastic response to it so I didn't bother. I would very much like to hope that other contemporarily stellar violinists who have it in their repertoire (Isabelle Faust, to name but one) might have the chance to record it.

[Barbirollians]

Having started - and finished - with the Ida Haendel, I've been subjecting the local paysans to a morning of different recordings (Grumlikova, Lubotsky, Haendel, Vengerov, Hope, Zimmerman, Jansen, Marwood and Little) as I've been trying to figure out quite what it is about her recording that makes it stand out in a very distinguished field of recordings. I don't have an answer but there is a particular intensity to her playing which takes the work somewhere beyond being a virtuoso showpiece. She makes it sound, I don't know, dangerous (there is an edge to her playing at times which makes it almost uncomfortable listening). Much as I greatly like Grumlikova, Jansen and Little among the more introverted performances and Lubotsky and Zimmerman among the more obviously virtuosic, she is still pretty much hors concours in this work. It makes her omission from the BaL all the more puzzling. I haven't heard the recent Ehnes performance (much praised in the newspapers) and was about to download it when I saw PG's less than enthusiastic response to it so I didn't bother. I would very much like to hope that other contemporarily stellar violinists who have it in their repertoire (Isabelle Faust, to name but one) might have the chance to record it.

A splendid analysis HD - I sometimes wonder whether the circumstances of writing the concerto - in 1938 and its portents of war and darkness she was particularly in tune with due to her background and her family having to flee Poland . There is a sense of real identity with the concerto that nobody else to my ears has matched.

[arthroceph]

That sure was cool enough HighlandDougie, Many thanks!