The growing profusion of new versions of the key repertoire works, truthfully recorded, often brings a critical dilemma, and this disc is a good example. One wants not to be disparaging. Both Zehetmair and Christoph von Dohnanyi are fine artists, and here they provide a highly musical, straightforward account of the Brahms Concerto that would be enjoyable at a concert. But on disc one wants more.
Zehetmair's initial presentation of the main theme of the first movement is pleasingly sweet in timbre and the Cleveland finds plenty of Brahmsian lyricism too, both here and in the Adagio, while the finale has a joyful rhythmic life. However, when one turns to David Oistrakh and Klemperer (EMI) one's ears immediately register the sense that this music-making is in an altogether different class. To start with, Klemperer moulds the work's very opening phrase arrestingly, and the famous dotted rhythmic figure that introduces the violin has great strength.
Oistrakh's entry is immensely commanding and when he reaches the main theme his phrasing is full of imaginative individuality. Again and again in the first movement one notices Klemperer constantly illuminating orchestral comments, and there is a gripping sense of energy and momentum in the development.
Both Oistrakh and Zehetmair use the Joachim cadenza, but Oistrakh makes it seem part of the work's very fabric; his reprise of the main theme at the end is a touch of poised magic, whereas with Zehetmair it just sounds simple and lyrical. At the opening of the Adagio the balance of the wind group round the oboe solo creates an unforget- table Brahmsian sonority, while in the finale Klemperer's somewhat slower tempo does not rob the movement of its vitality. Oistrakh is rather closely balanced and the remastered EMI recording is brighter, less natural than the Cleveland/Teldec sound balance, but the projection of the music-making comes mainly from the charisma of the playing.
If one turns instead to Perlman (EMI) or Heifetz (RCA) for comparison, the positive qualities of the interpretations are equally striking. Heifetz (with Reiner) chooses fast speeds for all three movements, but so sure is his technique and such is the strength of his personality, that he is entirely convincing. Playing this work appears second nature to him (RCA also offer the Beethoven Concerto to make his CD even more enticing). Perlman's first movement, on the other hand, is rather expansive and relaxed. Nevertheless, in partnership with Giulini his reading is entirely individual, and his slow movement is notable for its intensity of feeling.'