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Pristine Classical
©2006 SARL Pristine Audio

 
Pristine Classical Recorded Music
PACM001: Violin Sonata No. 9 in A, "Kreutzer", Op. 47- Beethoven
German

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Jacques Thibaud, violin
Alfred Cortot, piano

Recorded 27, 28th May 1929, Salle Chopin & Salle Pleyel, Paris
Issued as 4 HMV 78s, D.B.1328-D.B.1331
Matrix numbers 2-08068 - 2-08075, takes 3, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3
Transfer and Natural Sound remastering by Andrew Rose, February 2007
(Duration 30'22 ")

PACM001: Violin Sonata No. 9 in A, "Kreutzer", Op. 47- Beethoven

Play sample movement:

 

An XR remastering also available in Ambient Stereo
This XR-remastered recording is available in mono and Ambient Stereo. For more information on Ambient Stereo click here.

Perhaps the most popular Violin Sonata of all time gets a fabulous treatment here by two of the most eminent chamber musicians of the twentieth century. Every single note of this superb recording is a joy to hear as the musicians draw you into this sublime work. As Robert Stumpf II said in a review of this performance at Classical Net, "...this is the real thing. The players here are making music, not just playing it."

When I initially revisited this recording and gave it the Pristine Audio Natural Sound treatment I was delighted with the sound quality I achieved - but ultimately decided a completely new restoration might yield even better results. Hence this 2007 restoration and remastering, direct from the original 78s.

 

Initial reactions to the 2007 Pristine Audio Natural Sound EQ remastering:

"As a string player, who was born on the day Thibaud and Cortot completed that recording of the Kreutzer, I have to say that I never thought such restoration would be possible. Both the violin and the piano sound are perfectly captured, and it is possible to sit back and enjoy the marvellous performance without making the least concession to the date. Astonishing to think that nearly 78 years on we are the first to hear the performance as it must have sounded in May 1929. More power to your arm!" [MH]


REVIEW OF BEETHOVEN'S SONATA NO.9 FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO
Jacques Thibaud, Alfred Cortot, (1929)

 

The "Kreutzer" sonata, named for a violinist who found the music inexplicable and refused to play it, has often been seen as the "Eroica" of Beethoven's violin sonatas in that it greatly expanded the time limits and the virtuosity of the form. Unlike the "Eroica", however, it didn't provide the musical depth to accompany this expansion. Beethoven's greatest violin sonatas remain the 7th and the 10th, but this work is surely the most popular and an obligatory stop for all violin virtuosi over the age of fourteen.

So why do we care about a 76-year-old recording by two artists, one of whom is not Heifetz and the other of whom is definitely not Horowitz? Because this is surely the greatest recording I've ever heard of the "Kreutzer" sonata. Why? Two reasons: (1) they tone down the virtuoistic display and find poetry in every measure and (2) they treat the work as early middle-period Beethoven (Op. 47--the Waldstein sonata had not yet been written) rather than proto-elephantine Paganini. True, it is a display work written for George Hightower, the Afro-British virtuoso (who was known to spice up his concerts by repeating an encore by playing it with the violin upside down), but it is 1804, not 1834. Take the opening bare violin line played by Thibaud: it is so poetic; when the piano comes in, it doesn't bang to prove how much more powerful it is than the violin. One is not impatient for the fireworks to begin; one is caught up in the opening. The ensuing violin presto is really exciting for being a little subdued; the sharp chords don't seem ugly like World War I barbed wire. The slow movement has always seemed a little dull to me. Thibaud and Cortot speed it up and sharpen it up and instead of being pretty vapid it just seems pretty. The last movement goes like the wind, but it's a wind that knocks your hat off, not your house down.

The sound is very good; only in a few places did I notice surface noise. What is more important is that the 1929 message-the message of poetry and form and restraint-is delivered in this remastering with tremendous impact. Or to put it more crudely, the cantabiles really sing and the sforzandos really sting!

Reviewer: Bill Rosen

 

Find out more:

 
3rd Movement: Presto
About Beethoven:

BBC Artist Profile
The Classical Music Pages
Beethoven Bibliography Database

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Download our Illustrated Catalogue
Complete catalogue of recordings, fully indexed by composer and performer, with links to website pages
Restoration by Andrew Rose:



 

 

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