PASC051:
Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 - Mendelssohn
MP3
price
Fritz
Kreisler, violin
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Sir Landon Ronald
Recorded
in 1935, released as HMV DB.2460-2
Matrix Numbers: 2EA1465-70
Takes: 4A, 2A, 1, 2A, 1A, 4A
("A" indicates alternate disc cutter used)
Download ID: 223707
(Duration
25'30")
Play
sample movement:
Introduction:
Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, Germany on 3rd February, 1809 into
a distinguished and afflluent family of bankers, intellectuals and artists.
A child prodigy, he produced his first composition in 1820; a constant
stream of work continued throughout his relatively short life - he died
in Leipzig on 4th November, 1847 at the age of just 38. These notes, which
accompany Pristine Audio's Mendelssohn Edition, released to mark the 160th
anniversary of his oratio Elijah,
our first award-winning release for Divine Art, follow Mendelssohn's life
through eight compositions newly remastered for August 2006.
The
Mendelssohn Trail - Part 7 of 8
Music composed 1844
By 1844
Mendelssohn was still highly unhappy with the arrangements in Berlin and
his appointment at the Academy of the Arts, and by the end of November
had negotiated a release from all official duties there bar occasional
commissions from the King of Prussia as required - for this he took a
salary of 1000 thaler a year.
One of
the composer's final acts prior to a visit to Berlin was the completion
in September of his Violin Concerto. The composer had spent a particularly
happy summer with his wife and family in Frankfurt, and it was here that
the concerto, which had been contemplating for six years, finally came
to fruition.
Here we
find a work which argues powerfully against any opinion that Mendelssohn's
later years showed a steady decline. The last and certainly one of the
best of his larger orchestral works, the Violin Concerto has proved a
perennial favourite ever since. The banning of it by the Nazis in response
to Mendelssohn's Jewish heritage forced them to seek out a suitable alternative
but, as pleasant as it is, Schumann's Violin Concerto (PASC004)
is no match for the real thing.
When working
on the restoration of this quite fabulous 1935 recording by Kreisler I
was frequently confused into thinking it was perhaps the Heifetz recording
made in the late 1940's, and surprised at the poor reaction this had received
from the critics. My mistake - the sound here is quite remarkable for
its age, and the performance is, for me, unsurpassed.
The
Mendelssohn Trail - on to part
8
Back to start
REVIEW
OF: Mendelssohn's Violin
Concerto in E Minor
(Fritz Kreisler, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Landon
Ronald) (1935)
That
so perfect and spontaneous-seeming a work as the Mendelssohn
Violin Concerto can have taken seven years to come to fruition
and caused the composer real trauma, depression and uncertainty
amazes us. He wrote it for and had the able assistance of
Ferdinand David, the concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus
Orchestra. Even in the final year of the concerto's gestation,
Mendelssohn could write to David, “Do not laugh at me
too much, I feel ashamed in any case, but I cannot help it;
I am just groping around.” Mozart, I believe, once said
that he sweat so that the audience does not sense it in the
music. The concerto presents several structural innovations:
No orchestral-alone exposition, the cadenza after the development,
a highly integrated violin/orchestra texture and movements
that are connected by orchestral tissue. I love the Mendelssohn
concerto, but the insistent minorish tone of the first movement
can give it a whiny, wimpish quality if not played with strength.
Taking the movements fast and highlighting the solo violin
can only worsen the effect.
Fritz
Kreisler’s full, fat tone which combines sweetness with
vigor fully avoids the problem. The strong backbone that lies
behind the beautiful tone and the moderate tempi present a
first movement that is masculine and glorious. The cadenza
seems an integral part of the work. The second theme of the
movement is played with tenderness that does not cloy. The
orchestral accompaniment is alert and occasionally outstanding
as in the third movement.
One
misses the bassoon connection to the second movement, which
is dry-eyed but tender. In the last movement the delightfully
capricious opening theme is more beautifully integrated with
the orchestra (particularly the flutes) than I have ever heard
it before in this work. The final high violin note seems this
once to be climactic instead of just frenetic.
The
sound is very adequate, especially allowing Kreisler’s
tone to seem so beautiful and making the concerto sound a
worthy companion to the Brahms and Beethoven concerti.
