Search - Jean Sibelius, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Eugene Ormandy :: Tchaikovsky, Sibelius: Violin Concertos

A must have for Stern fans, others shop around

J. Buxton | Waltham, MA United States | 05/10/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Tchaikovsky dates from the 1950's and the recording shows its age, although Sony has done an admirable remastering job. The violin is placed very forward in relation to the mic, which captures Stern very well. The fluidity and technical precision he exhibits in the quick passage work reminds me of Heifetz in his almost robotic ability to hit every note. To Stern's credit, he is considerably more poetic than Heifetz in this particular work. This might even be a top recommendation if not for the orchestra not being captured very well. The orchestra is too far back and sounds a bit muddy. The sound in the Sibelius is much better (recording from late 1960's), but Stern's performance is not on a par with the Tchaikovsky. It is quite adequate and probably better than average, but it is missing that last bit of dark mystery I associate with this piece. This reading pales in comparison to Lin/Salonen on Sony, Repin/Krivine on Erato, and Kennedy/Rattle on EMI."

Not too bad, but certainly not great.

J. Buxton | 12/22/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The Tchaikovsky on this album is good, very good, but the Sibelius is somewhat mediocre. I have other recordings of Isaac Stern, and they are quite good, but a master of violin can't always get it perfect, and the Sibelius concerto here makes that obvious. Much better, in my opinion, is the recording with Anne-Sophie Mutter, and even better is the Heifetz (although the quality of the recording isn't that good, it's still a great performance)."