Berg Violin Concerto etc
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Alban Berg
Label: Philips
Magazine Review Date: 7/1985
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 47
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 412 523-2PH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, 'To the memory of an angel' |
Alban Berg, Composer
Alban Berg, Composer Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Colin Davis, Conductor Gidon Kremer, Violin |
| (3) Orchestral Pieces |
Alban Berg, Composer
Alban Berg, Composer Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Colin Davis, Conductor |
Composer or Director: Alban Berg
Label: Philips
Magazine Review Date: 7/1985
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 412 523-1PH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, 'To the memory of an angel' |
Alban Berg, Composer
Alban Berg, Composer Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Colin Davis, Conductor Gidon Kremer, Violin |
| (3) Orchestral Pieces |
Alban Berg, Composer
Alban Berg, Composer Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Colin Davis, Conductor |
Author: Michael Oliver
Kremer gives a beautifully tender account of the first movement of the Concerto, aided by a markedly slower opening tempo than usual and by a really hushed pianissimo at the outset. The result is that the change of mood and tempo when the music moves from andante to allegretto are immediately perceptible: the allegretto has not been pre-empted by earlier accelerations, as can easily happen. Any risk of sleepiness is averted by his firm rhythmic phrasing, and he is a very expressive player (even a touch too expressive, perhaps, for the simplicity of the later passage marked ''Like a pastorale''). There is a touch of strain in one or two of the more hair-raisingly difficult moments in the second movement (Davis could have helped if he had phrased the all-important Hauptrhythmus less heavily: it is only marked pesante when it passes to the violin, by which time there is not much that Kremer can do but dig his bow hard into the strings and look forward to the tranquillo passage soon afterwards, which he does exquisitely). The chorale is played with affecting restraint, the woodwind really hushed, and the end would have been magical if only the orchestral strings' reminder of the Concerto's opening had been clearly audible, and that is my principal reservation about this interpretation: too many orchestral details, in the upper strings especially, are obscured by the recording balance.
Kremer's performance, even so, is worth considering as a gentler alternative to Perlman's marvellous account on DG (especially if you do not want his coupling—the Stravinsky Concerto). This is particularly true of the CD version, where the sensitive dynamic shadings are finely rendered and the internal balance is to a degree restored (a curious and no doubt partly subjective phenomenon, this: the sounds transmitted are obviously the same in both media, but CD enables one to focus on a backward line of the texture in a way that is much harder on LP). The Op. 6 pieces, however, are more problematical on both LP and CD. Davis is obviously giving a powerful and eloquent performance, but the overall sound is messy and noisy, important strands are often hard to perceive, even with a score to hand, and to turn to Abbado's LP account on DG is to experience the work suddenly snapping into clear focus. His is a reading of blazing intensity, but it is the unobtrusively clear perespective of the DG recording which enables one to appreciate this.
The alternative LP coupling on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/Conifer does not affect choice much: Hoelscher makes rather a meal of the Concerto, passion and capriciousness exuding from every bar, while Wakasugi is careful rather than transported in Op. 6. Abbado is a clear recommendation for theOrchestral Pieces, and Perlman for the Concerto (particularly on CD, where the sound is especially warm and lucid), though Chung makes an attractively pensive alternative on Decca, if her coupling appeals to you (it is Bartok's early First Concerto).'
Kremer's performance, even so, is worth considering as a gentler alternative to Perlman's marvellous account on DG (especially if you do not want his coupling—the Stravinsky Concerto). This is particularly true of the CD version, where the sensitive dynamic shadings are finely rendered and the internal balance is to a degree restored (a curious and no doubt partly subjective phenomenon, this: the sounds transmitted are obviously the same in both media, but CD enables one to focus on a backward line of the texture in a way that is much harder on LP). The Op. 6 pieces, however, are more problematical on both LP and CD. Davis is obviously giving a powerful and eloquent performance, but the overall sound is messy and noisy, important strands are often hard to perceive, even with a score to hand, and to turn to Abbado's LP account on DG is to experience the work suddenly snapping into clear focus. His is a reading of blazing intensity, but it is the unobtrusively clear perespective of the DG recording which enables one to appreciate this.
The alternative LP coupling on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/Conifer does not affect choice much: Hoelscher makes rather a meal of the Concerto, passion and capriciousness exuding from every bar, while Wakasugi is careful rather than transported in Op. 6. Abbado is a clear recommendation for the
Berg Violin Concerto etc
Berg Violin Concerto etc
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