Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart :: Concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart & Prokofiev

EMI Cheating: brahms double concerto is a MONO recording. Wh

Judy Spotheim | Belgium, Europe | 03/10/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I would assume that potential buyers would sink their teeth into this item - but beware, beware:

The Brahms double concerto is constructed out of two recordings (and two different recording location).

First and second movements are in MONO while the third movement is in glorious stereo.

However, this all is misleading because no one in his right mind will name it a stereo recording and they do not specify that. They hint that the recording was made in 1956 (no stereo yet...so why call it a stereo?)

I have this very same oeuvre on a Pathe-Marconi 10-inch stereo and was hoping to get a better transfer of it so I ordered this Duo-CD item.

Big, big disappointment: The sound is true MONO except for the third movement.

Save your money and go somewhere else for a soul satisfying encounter. Not this one EMI, not this one."

Great Prokofiev & Mozart, OK Brahms & Beethoven

P. Bergstrom | Severna Park, MD USA | 06/12/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have owned and loved the same recordings of the Prokofiev & Mozart concertos on vinyl for many years, and when the record started to skip, I bought this CD; I was very pleased with the sound, which is rich and well-textured. Oistrakh's performance on the Prokofiev is incredibly emotional yet balanced, and he brings a very different and appropriate style to the Mozart. These two pieces deserve 5 stars.



I gave it 4 stars because the performances of the Brahms double and Beethoven triple were less exciting to me, and the sound quality is lower. The orchestra sound on the Brahms is rougher and less rich than on Prokofiev & Mozart, while the Beethoven orchestra sound is muddy with too much bass. Oistrakh also recorded the Brahms & Beethoven with Rostropovich and (on the Beethoven) Richter, but I have not heard that disk (it got mostly good reviews, at least for the Brahms). Here he plays the Brahms with Fournier, also an excellent cellist, and I liked the performance, but I'd never heard of the two other soloists on the Beethoven (Sviatoslav Knushevitsky, cello and Lev Oborin, piano), although they sound quite competent. I've never liked the Beethoven triple so it's hard for me to review it; it seems plodding and pedantic in all the performances I've heard, including this one."