Paganini/Saint-Saëns Violin Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Nicolò Paganini, Camille Saint-Saëns
Label: EMI
Magazine Review Date: 1/1995
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: EL555026-4
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 |
Nicolò Paganini, Composer
Nicolò Paganini, Composer Philadelphia Orchestra Sarah Chang, Violin Wolfgang Sawallisch, Conductor |
| Havanaise |
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer Philadelphia Orchestra Sarah Chang, Violin Wolfgang Sawallisch, Conductor |
| Introduction and Rondo capriccioso |
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer Philadelphia Orchestra Sarah Chang, Violin Wolfgang Sawallisch, Conductor |
Composer or Director: Nicolò Paganini, Camille Saint-Saëns
Label: EMI
Magazine Review Date: 1/1995
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 55
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 555026-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 |
Nicolò Paganini, Composer
Nicolò Paganini, Composer Philadelphia Orchestra Sarah Chang, Violin Wolfgang Sawallisch, Conductor |
| Havanaise |
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer Philadelphia Orchestra Sarah Chang, Violin Wolfgang Sawallisch, Conductor |
| Introduction and Rondo capriccioso |
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer Philadelphia Orchestra Sarah Chang, Violin Wolfgang Sawallisch, Conductor |
Author: Ivan March
Paganini would surely have been utterly astonished. Sarah Chang (Gramophone's 1993 Young Artist of the year) who has already given us an estimable version of the Tchaikovsky concerto (12/93) here tackles the famous Paganini No. 1 with complete aplomb. She made her debut with the piece in the Avery Fisher Hall at the age of eight(!), but had reached more advanced years (12) when she recorded it in Philadelphia for EMI.
The performance is dazzling, particularly the finale where her light rhythmic touch and deliciously pert sliding ''harmonized harmonics'' are a wonder of technical assurance. Note too, in the first movement, the relaxed ease of the decorated bouncing bow passages (try 11'21'') and the gently tender reprise of the second subject (12'14''). The slow movement is not overtly romantic, but the freshness is never in doubt. One does not expect her to sound maturely sophisticated like Perlman (who remains unsurpassed in this repertoire) and she slightly understates the sultry atmosphere of the Saint-Saens Havanaise to pleasing effect, yet manages the coda with spruce flexibility of phrase and the most subtle graduations of timbre.
The Introduction and Rondo capriccioso has plenty of dash and she catches the Spanish sunlight in the Introduction without an overtly sensuous response. She is not flattered by the recording: balanced close, her tone is subject to intimate scrutiny yet emerges pristine, even if her bowing is at times made to seem sharply etched. The Philadelphia Orchestra is flattered even less. It is a vivid 'digital' sound-picture—very much a recording—and one is always conscious of the microphones. The Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park provides a fair ambience, but the tuttis lack opulence and at times have a curiously husky focus. Sawallisch directs with plenty of verve (his opening of the first movement of the concerto is infectiously jaunty) and he supports his soloist admirably at every twist and turn of Paganini's pyrotechnical complexities and the balancing lyrical interludes.'
The performance is dazzling, particularly the finale where her light rhythmic touch and deliciously pert sliding ''harmonized harmonics'' are a wonder of technical assurance. Note too, in the first movement, the relaxed ease of the decorated bouncing bow passages (try 11'21'') and the gently tender reprise of the second subject (12'14''). The slow movement is not overtly romantic, but the freshness is never in doubt. One does not expect her to sound maturely sophisticated like Perlman (who remains unsurpassed in this repertoire) and she slightly understates the sultry atmosphere of the Saint-Saens Havanaise to pleasing effect, yet manages the coda with spruce flexibility of phrase and the most subtle graduations of timbre.
The Introduction and Rondo capriccioso has plenty of dash and she catches the Spanish sunlight in the Introduction without an overtly sensuous response. She is not flattered by the recording: balanced close, her tone is subject to intimate scrutiny yet emerges pristine, even if her bowing is at times made to seem sharply etched. The Philadelphia Orchestra is flattered even less. It is a vivid 'digital' sound-picture—very much a recording—and one is always conscious of the microphones. The Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park provides a fair ambience, but the tuttis lack opulence and at times have a curiously husky focus. Sawallisch directs with plenty of verve (his opening of the first movement of the concerto is infectiously jaunty) and he supports his soloist admirably at every twist and turn of Paganini's pyrotechnical complexities and the balancing lyrical interludes.'
Paganini/Saint-Saëns Violin Works
Paganini/Saint-Saëns Violin Works
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.