Track Listing

1. I. Allegro Non Troppo
2. II. Larghetto
3. III. Rondo (Allegro)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10224 in Music
• Released on: 1998-10-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds
• Running time: 44 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
When Itzhak Perlman recorded this disc, many critics were surprised by the sobriety and quiet poetry of his interpretation, as though his many fine chamber-music recordings did not provide ample evidence of Perlman's qualities as a "serious" musician. Although beautifully written for the instrument, Beethoven's sole Violin Concerto does not offer many opportunities for the kind of virtuoso fireworks that have made Perlman famous. But as all great musicians will, he turned this fact to his own advantage. This sensitive, profound performance has already passed into legend as a classic in every sense of the word. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews

A benchmark
In my opinion it is very difficult to identify one version of a work as great as this . Different interpretations can tell you so much more about a work .

That said this marvellous recording from the early 1980s was my introduction to a 25 year long love affair with this piece . Perlman spins tone of gold whilst also allowing introspection in the slow movement .

That said I wouldn't be without Menuhin/Furtwangler on Testament, Oistrakh/Cluytens on EMI or Hilary Hahn on Sony either

Great recording
This recording is incredibly clear and distinguished in terms of conducting, as well as perfectly played by violinist Perlman. All aspects of the orchestra are blended wonderfully, the bassoon in the finale was impressive - a very smooth delivery without forcing it's delivery in the slightest. This version is the definitive one. I find no faults with it, whereas the EMI version with Yehudi Menuhin lacks the punch and consistency of this marvellous recording

Leaves you gasping for breath
This is one of my two favorite works of music, the other one being Beethoven's 5th piano concert. In cases like this, one rendition alone will never do. At the moment, I own readings by ...

- Anne-Sophie Mutter with Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonics (her first recording of the work)
- Arthur Grumiaux with Sir Colin Davis conducting the Amsterdam Concertgebouw
- David Oistrakh with Sixten Ehrling conducting the Stockholm Festival Orchestra
- Wolfgang Schneiderhan with Eugen Jochum directing the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

I have also owned and sold ...

- Anne-Sophie Mutter with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic
- Pinchas Zukerman with Daniel Barenboim and the London Philharmonic Orchestra

This concerto is actually not one of the great virtuoso concertos. As Austrian critic Konrad Beikircher put it, it is the most frustrating concerto for the first violinist, because he keeps listening to the soloist and thinking "I could do that!" Though the second movement is among the most beautiful music ever written, it is the catharsis at the end of the third movement on which most depends. There has to be a build-up of power, released in an ecstatic, furious outburst of Beethovenian passion. The power has to be built up, the emotional tension created, throughout the entire concerto.

Two of the readings above succeed perfectly, though in different ways: The one by Mutter (with Karajan) and the one by Perlman.

Mutter's reading has a sense of youthful (but not naïve!) esprit, and offers moments of such heartbreaking, breathtaking, piercing, shattering (add similar adjectives to your own liking) beauty, that it brings tears to my eyes, even at 100th listen. The feeling is one of the violinist melting with the music, as though she were touched just as deeply by the work, as her playing touches the listener. A first rate musical experience indeed! Also, Mutter's youthful individualism balances Karajan's typical holy-shrine-approach ideally. The two of them seem to have quite different ideas about the work. But the synthesis is stunning, expressing Beethoven's theme of the individual facing the forces the life to the very fullest.

In a way, Perlman's version is the opposite, yet it achieves the same. Conductor, orchestra and Perlman seem to share the same vision of what Beethoven is about. There is a somber, yet highly energetic but controlled approach, which completely avoids the typical Beethoven-trap of over-dramatizing the music in search of a "reverent" approach. Instead, this is perfectly balanced. the catharsis at the end of the third movement has never been played with such fire, as by Perlman. It truly leaves one with fists clenched in a Beethovenian gesture of defiance, gasping for breath.
Get both.