Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Barbirolli :: Beethoven, Mozart: Violin Concertos

Sumptuousness and magisterial grandiloquence!

Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 09/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Whether Fritz Kreisler has been the supreme violinist of all time might be largely debated but surely, it will not never be denied he was certainly the most beloved. All his performances were hovered by an intense warmth, astonishing musicality, radiant lyricism and ostensible refinement. His life deserves to be better known. He not only lived in own flesh the horrors of both wars, but most of the great audiences judge with the same measure the composer and the performer.



Kreisler was a miniaturist as composer. He never worried to create works of great breadth, but when he decided to play the violin, this was another issue. His prodigious technique was under the musicality' s service and profound sentiment and not sentimentalism.



In what concerns to Mozart' s violin concerto No. 4, I really consider that Artur Grumiaux has been the another great rival and until this date, the unsurpassable performer. And I don' t think to be exaggerate to affirm this is the second greta choice at least in this K. 218 The musical figures, the absorbing musical imagination, the balance and accurate articulation makes of this performance a true treasure.



At the moment to intend a brief account of the supreme performances of the most pyramidal of the violin concertos ever composed, this version still remains among the five superb performances ever. I can still remember that rainy afternoon in 1975 when I listened for first - time this legendary performance. I was in shock, because of the fact the apparent easiness and total display of febrile melodic ferment that featured. Passion, blaze, Dionysian rapture, sublime lyricism and incandescent glow makes of this legendary interpretation one an obligated reference at the moment to name the most glorious of this overwhelming Op. Of course that Barbirolli and the London Philharmonic were really inspired and totally engaged with this superb soloist, giving the best of themselves.



My sincere and estimated reader; don't miss this performance under no pretext. This recording is part of the legend.

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