Beethoven: Violin Concerto, Op. 61 (Great Recordings of the Century)
Our Price: $31.03
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.71 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Composer: Ludwig van BeethovenConductor: Carlo Maria Giulini
Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra
Performer: Itzhak Perlman
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1999-01-12
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:
- Concerto For Violin And Orchestra In D, Op.61: I: Allegro ma mon troppo - L.V. Beethoven
- Concerto For Violin And Orchestra In D, Op.61: II: Larghetto - L.V. Beethoven
- Concerto For Violin And Orchestra In D, Op.61: III: Rondo (Allegro) - L.V. Beethoven
Music reviews of Beethoven: Violin Concerto, Op. 61 (Great Recordings of the Century)
Music Review: a broad, gentle and lyrical view - at the expense of Beethoven's dynamism and drama
Rating: 3 Stars
"Only rarely with a repertory work so frequently performed yet so taxing can one give a firm commendation for one version over all others, yet in this instance that is possible." That this recording could have been hailed, upon its initial publication in 1981, as anything near "the best ever" or "top of the competition" (the opening quote is from The Gramophone, March 1982; The review in Fanfare, March-April 1982, was equally raving) says long about how certain performing (and listening) traditions can take the upper hand over simple scrutiny of the score and awareness of its musical content and many facets.
Giulini's approach is indeed bound to a certain tradition, to a fault. His approach is broad, gentle, lyrical, pesante even, majestic in the tuttis. What is lost in the process? The composition's dynamism and drama - shall I dare: its Beethovenian character? It is not so much a matter of tempo as of lack of muscularity and bite. In those years Perlman, Zukerman and Barenboim were buddies (may be still the case) and played a lot together. It is not surprising then that the overall conception should be very similar to Zukerman and Barenboim's 1977 DG recording in Chicago (Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 / Romances for Violin and Orchestra: No. 1 in G Major, Op. 40; No. 2 in F Major, Op. 50). But that these two factors - ample lyricism and sluggishness - do NOT necessarily go together is amply proven by Bruno Walter, especially in his last studio recording with Francescatti in 1961, which magnificently demonstrates that it is possible to combine ample lyricism AND muscularity in Beethoven's Violin Concerto (Beethoven, Sibelius: Violin Concertos). According to the Gramophone's review, Perlman had insisted on re-recording the Concerto, being unsatisfied with the first takes. So, the conception is as much his as Giulini's. There are moments of beautiful lyricism but, where the Fanfare reviewer (Philip Hart) wrote that he was "amazed at Perlman's articulation of the "yards" of passage work for the soloist, which emerge, not as a decorative filigree over the orchestra, but as a perpetually inflected discourse that never breaks the continuity of line and still avoids monotony", I hear lack of bite, laziness and rhythmic squareness (one-two-three one-two-three one-two-three one-two-three).
The accolades given to this recording in 1981 had to do, then, with the stronghold of that tradition (harking back perhaps to Furwängler and Menuhin, and whose other formidable champion was Oistrakh), but also with the artists: Giulini was then at the height of his fame, a rare and shy artist, seen as the epitome of the musician in contrast to the showman Karajan; and Perlman, 13 years after his debut recording with Leinsdorf, was still one of the bright shooting stars of the violin scene, whose lush and juicy tone made him (differences notwithstanding) an heir to Oistrakh or Stern. It was also for both their first recording of that work.
As could be expected, the approach works better in the slow movement, although it is, again, at the expense of Beethoven's precise articulation marks: gone is all the precise staccato - which indeed, at this tempo, would make no sense - in favor of a long-lined legato. Very beautiful in itself, if you consider that respect of the score's minute details doesn't matter so much. I don't find Perlman's dynamic shadings entirely exceptional either. The finale is more animated than I would have expected, but the orchestra lacks rhythmic underpinning (the basses are mere background noise rather than crisply articulated) and both the soloist and the orchestra legato-ize their lines a great deal.
Much eulogy has been showered on this recording and - just see the other reviews - still is. The best I can say is that it is inoffensive. If you want a Beethoven concerto that will not jar, will not disturb, will not shock, that will leave you snug and comfortable in your expectations, this is for you. But is that the way you want your Beethoven? No me.
More Beethoven: Violin Concerto, Op. 61 (Great Recordings of the Century) free music reviews:
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
Classical CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Classical CDs
Winterscapesby London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops:
The Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebeeby Dini Petty
Children's Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops:
Classical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs CdrRelease date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $24.98
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
![Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] Image](/images/Jose-Carreras-Jubileum-Concert-VHS-1584481471-X.jpg){kind=small}
Jose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.86
Price in other shops:
![Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] Image](/images/Tchaikovsky-The-Nutcracker-Nureyev-Park-Royal-Ballet-VHS-156127092X-X.jpg){kind=small}
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.89
Price in other shops:
![Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] Image](/images/Lonely-Town-Lonley-Street-Sergeant-Early-Dream-VHS-1561270857-X.jpg){kind=small}
Rambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Winter Music: Composing the Northby John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.90
Price in other shops:
![Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Puccini-La-Fanciulla-del-West-Santi-Domingo-Neblett-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720382-X.jpg){kind=small}
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
![Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Verdi-Falstaff-Giulini-Bruson-Ricciarelli-Nucci-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720358-X.jpg){kind=small}
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Mozart: The Violin SonatasSon; Release date: 2003-10-28; Music CD
Best price: $21.04
Price in other shops:
Dvorák: Cello Concerto, Op. 104 / Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations, Op. 33CON; Release date: 1996-01-23; Music CD
Best price: $6.92
Price in other shops:
Vaughan Williams: Fantasies; The Lark Ascending; Five VariantsRelease date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $9.92
Price in other shops:
Rachmaninov: The SymphoniesRelease date: 1998-02-10; Music CD
Best price: $14.49
Price in other shops:
Mendelssohn/ Brahms: Violin ConcertosRelease date: 1995-03-14; Music CD
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
Brahms: Violin Concerto Op. 77Release date: 1999-05-04; Music CD
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 / Handel Variations, Op. 24 / Waltzes, Op. 39CON; Release date: 1997-10-14; Music CD
Best price: $13.53
Price in other shops:
Brahms: Concertos for Piano No. 1 & 2, Fantasia Op. 116Release date: 1996-09-17; Music CD
Best price: $12.61
Price in other shops:
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7Release date: 1996-01-23; Music CD
Best price: $6.86
Price in other shops:
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor; Bruch: Violin Concerto #1; Itzhak PerlmanRelease date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $9.04
Price in other shops: