Search - Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Gardiner :: Beethoven, Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos

Okay, but . . .

mcerner | Princeton, NJ United States | 01/05/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Mullova has been one of my favorites -- she's lively and dynamic, her drama is controlled, and she can be very musical in presentation. Her Brahms sonatas for instance were wonderful, the best I've heard. Even her latest Mozart was great. I was browsing for a sequel when I found this CD, and I purchased it even though, like a previous reviewer has mentioned, we've already had a good many releases of the Mendelssohn and the Beethoven. In fact, after Mutter's most recent Beethoven, you really don't need any other version (hers is fantastic), and Hahn and Bell did the Mendelssohn with strong and beautiful characteristic performances. Yet because this was a Mullova CD, I opted to make the purchase. However, I wasn't all that happy with it. The orchestra is really good, and the sound is strong. Yet Mullova's performance seems unusually tenuous, almost like she's not controlling the music but it is in charge. She plays at a peculiarly high-pitch, and though it isn't shrill, she doesn't get much sweetness from it. There are cadenzas and other illiterations that surprise me, and from time to time I have to ask myself what I'm listening to, because it just doesn't sound like the Beethoven, more like Kernis interpreting Beethoven, going avant garde and thus to my ear, bordering on the annoying. I don't know if Mullova is trying a new, divergent interpretation. If so, it's not coming off as fluid or commanding. At times her bowing is too light, and the notes aren't as firm or clear as you'd want them to be, and at others, the old Mullova is back, and the sound is beautiful. But this poses an unbalance between the strength of the background orchestra and the fragility of the violinist's performance. You can hear the orchestra damping down its sound to conform, then breaking away, as frustrated as you might be while listening. This isn't a bad CD by any means, and it should find an audience with those wanting a different Beethoven, anyone unhappy with Mutter's and Bell's recent; yet there is a discord in the concerto, whereas the Mendelssohn seems dull in comparison to Mullova's earlier, immature but highly talented performance with Marriner. I wouldn't recommend against this recording, but know that you might be dissatisfied if you expect something different from this performer."

Exemplary Beethoven and Mendlessohn From Mullova, etc.

John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 08/26/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Viktoria Mullova's latest recording is among the finest performances of the Beethoven and Mendelssohn violin concerti. But do we really need yet another recording of both concerti? In the past few years there have been excellent recordings of the Beethoven violin concerto from Hilary Hahn and Anne-Sophie Mutter and of the Beethoven and Mendelssohn concerti from Joshua Bell. My answer is an unqualified yes, since Mullova offers an intense, lyrical performance that is matched by peerless playing from the Orchestre Romantique et Revolutionaire under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Purists may object to her usage of cadenzas other than those composed by Beethoven and Kreisler, but I found her choice of cadenzas both intriguing and appropriate. This is a vibrantly fresh performance of the Beethoven violin concerto, drawing primarily from Gardiner's period instrument expertise. Gardiner leads his orchestra in brisk, vibrant playing, offering tempi that are the fastest I have heard for this concerto. Mullova's account of the Mendlessohn concerto is as lyrical as Joshua Bell's, emphasizing a silky tone to her violin playing. And like his spellbinding performance, Mullova's is just as definitive. Once more she is well supported by Gardiner and his orchestra. The sound quality is splendid, state-of-the-art from Philips. Although you may not need yet another recording of the Beethoven Violin Concerto, it is one that you shouldn't pass up, especially when it is coupled with an equally distinguished performance of the Mendelssohn violin concerto."

A period-style triumph for Mullova

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 06/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not sure the previous reviews have expressed just how unique this recording actually is. Viktoria Mullova, one of the most brilliant of Russian violinists, has devoted herself wholeheartedly to period performances, the first and only great virtuoso to do that. As a result, we get playing of lustrous refinement, with every aspect of style reconsidered and filtered through historical ears. Mullova's vibrato is much tempered, dynamics swell and fall away, pitch is lower, strings are gut isntead of metal, etc.



It would all be academic if Mullova didn't have something to say. But both works are full of new ideas, not to mention fresh cadenzas by Ottavio Dantone. I doubt there are eight bars in a row that Mullova hasn't rethought, but to give a general idea, her Beethoven is calm and serene, taken at normal tempos (she and Gardiner closely examined old scores, so apparently Beethoven didn't mark the concerto faster than we are used to), but by taking off a minute from each movement, coupled with the fresh, lean sound of the period orchestra, this reading sounds fairly swift.



Gardiner conducts in his usual foursquare style, but give him credit, he is a period authority, and his accompaniment has style. It's also roughly energetic at times--no slack rhythms or underplayed dynamics. The orchestra's bold tutti interjectins are powerful enough to give a strong contrast with the sweet, sometimes dreamy solo line of Beethoven's writing. Five stars without a doubt.



Where the Beethoven violin concerto has suffered from being played too solemnly, the Mendelssohn is often too quick and glib. Mullova and Gardiner take note that the first movement is marked 'appassionato,' attacking it more strongly than the Beethoven, in fact. In all three movements the tuttis swell grandly, and tempos are slow enough to add to the overall intensity. For once Mendelssohn isn't the angelic prodigy. Mullova adds more vibrato for expessive purposes, but she's quite restrained compared to, say, Heifetz. The finale is marked by an outspoken give-and-take between soloist and orchestra.



In all, this is a triumph for Mullova and the best period violin recording I've ever heard. Note: the notes warn us that Mullova and Gardiner have inserted some alternative versions here and there in both works--usually no moe than a turn of phrase or change of pitch. But if you're familiar with these concertos, you'll known the changes when you hear them."