Austrian violinist Oscar Reiss (1920-53) took the name Ossy
Renardy, and it was his melancholy fate to swell the ranks of
brilliant young violinists who died prematurely - Rabin, Kersey,
Hassid and Neveu, amongst many. Further poignancy attaches to
this reissue, given that its LP appearance on Remington in December
1953 coincided with Renardy’s death in a car crash en
route to a Mexican tour - Renardy had taken American citizenship.
He is joined by Eugene List, an outstanding pianist married
to a fellow fiddler of Renardy’s - Carroll Glenn. Renardy
and List perform the Franck sonata in a suave and commanding
fashion. Renardy’s super-fast finger vibrato is strongly
in evidence and it furnishes intensity to everything he plays.
Evident also is his sophisticated approach to portamenti, which
are happily part of his expressive arsenal, when appropriate.
Many violinists resort to very wide and smeary vibrato in the
Allegro second movement; Renardy does too, to an extent,
but the playing transcends objections, being masculine and dramatic.
These qualities apply to the Recitativo-Fantasia though
here there is certainly a just criticism, which is not the fault
of either musician: Remington’s balance strongly favours
Renardy so that his passagework takes aural precedence over
List’s more important piano part at too many points. Nevertheless
the intimacy of expression is laudable and so too is the finale,
where there’s real clarity and dynamism - though, again,
it’s a pity about the skewed balance.
In the Ravel, it’s inevitable that one should reach, for
points of comparison, for the LP made about a year later by
Zino Francescatti and Artur Balsam. Renardy and List are very
much more constricted colouristically; more troublingly they
are nowhere near as rhythmically supple or energised as the
older pairing. Ensemble, however, is estimable and there are
many good things about the performance, it’s just that
in vital places - such as the Blues movement - Renardy and List
seem oddly metronomic, and just a bit plain. In terms of colour
and subtly allusive phrasing, I’m afraid that Francescatti
leaves Renardy at the starting gate all too often.
The playing time faithfully reflects the LP’s length.
Of the two performances the players are significantly more attuned
stylistically to the hothouse intensity of the Franck. Their
Ravel is at a much lower level of engagement.
Jonathan Woolf
Ossy Renardy (violin) 