Szigeti's great musicianship was never in doubt, but sometimes in mid-career and onwards he was betrayed by problems of technique. His playing, with its generous vibrato and bold, expressive bowing, is easy to recognize. Also frequently apparent, alas, is a lack of control in the right hand, which results in an insecure, tremulous and strained quality of tone. The left hand sometimes has its problems, too—how the writer of the notes can refer to ''Szigeti's immaculate intonation'' I do not know. In the Bach Concerto it's frustrating to hear such an imaginative, sensitive interpretation spoiled by the scratchy, ugly sound of the solo instrument. The orchestral playing is pretty rough and ready, too, and none of the players is flattered by a typically coarse-grained, close American Columbia recording.
The Tartini has a slightly more refined sound-quality, and the orchestral playing, jangly harpsichord notwithstanding, is better. But it still sounds as if the performance was recorded in a small room. Szigeti's playing is stylish and aristocratic, but again there are technical problems. In the past we have had the Divertimento, K287 recorded by members of the Vienna Octet, and by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Toscanini. Here it has been arranged by Szigeti in the form of a violin concerto, and somewhat strange it sounds in this guise. Max Goberman conducts his small orchestra very elegantly, but Szigeti's playing is the same mixture as before, and the recording is cramped and unresonant.
The original Bach fill-up to the Tartini Concerto, namely the Sinfonia, BWV156, is also on this disc. The transfer of this item is a prime example of how noise-reduction can undermine the basic quality of a recording: fortunately the other works receive transfers of fair quality.'