Erich Wolfgang KORNGOLD (1897-1957)
Violin Concerto in D (1945) [27.06]
Ernest CHAUSSON (1855-1899)
Poème for Violin and Orchestra (1896) [16.37]
Max BRUCH (1838-1920)
Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor (1862) [26.18]
Arabella Steinbacher (violin)
Orquestra Gulbenkian/Lawrence Foster
rec. Grand Auditorio of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, July 2012.
SACD
PENTATONE PTC 5186 503 [70.23]
With Julia Fischer seemingly contracted to Decca, it appears that Arabella
Steinbacher is now Pentatone’s new glamour girl of the violin.
Ms Steinbacher was born in 1981 long after Hollywood’s Golden Age and those
Errol Flynn and Bette Davis epics. These films inspired Korngold’s film scores
and in turn drove the creative force of his Violin Concerto. I say this because
I just wonder if Ms Steinbacher had seen those films: Another Dawn
(1937), in particular, plus Juarez (1939), Anthony Adverse
(1936) or even The Prince and the Pauper (1937) so that she might
soak up the Korngold idiom and atmosphere.
This most romantic of Late Romantic violin concertos needs to be played with
all the emotional stops out. Missing is the emotional depth that Heifetz brought
to it in his celebrated 1953 recording while the composer was still alive
and the composition just some eight years old. The Heifetz recording, with
Wallenstein and, so appropriately, the Los Angeles Philharmonic is the one
I continually turn to above all others. The trouble with this Steinberger/Foster
approach is that it is hesitant and languid; in fact too languid by far with
the Romance, second movement having too much of an oppressively torrid,
hot-house atmosphere without the required emotional commitment. Timings comparisons
between the Steinbacher and Heifetz recordings speak volumes:-
Steinbacher: 9.59; 9.18; 7.49
Heifetz: 7.47; 7.09; 6.30
Steinbacher’s technique on the other hand is immaculate; how gracefully those
swirls and leaps are articulated. I will award marks though for the jolly,
energetic Pentatone Finale.
I was more persuaded listening to the Chausson Poème. Chausson set
this composition in three versions: the orchestral version here recorded and
one for violin and piano and a third for violin, piano and string quartet.
Poème was inspired by the spirit of a Turgenev romance which relates
how a musician and a painter love the same girl. She chooses the painter and
they live happily together, but are childless. The musician is devastated
and cannot accept his loss. He returns from India with a magic violin. He
plays a melody, Le chant de l’amour triomphant which casts a spell
on the girl. She sleepwalks into the garden towards the violinist but she
is followed by her husband who stabs the musician in a jealous rage. Sometime
later the girl is playing the organ when her fingers pick out the shape of
Le chant de l’amour triomphant. While she is playing she suddenly
feels life kicking inside her.
Chausson is more concerned with atmosphere and emotion than the story detail;
the role of the violin in the seduction is obvious. A significant amount of
double-stopping is employed and I like to think this might suggest mixed emotions
of anxiety and pleading before that beautiful melody properly flowers and
persuades the hapless girl, about ten minutes into this performance. It’s
hot-house atmosphere again but nicely controlled and for me the highlight
of this album.
The ever-popular Max Bruch receives a creditable reading from Steinbacher
but once again I would like to have heard just that bit more emotional commitment
and the central Adagio is laboured.
Foster’s support is always vivid and colourful, and for the Bruch, I liked
his occasional unashamed touches of old-fashioned sentimental portamenti.
The hybrid multi-channel super audio recorded sound is first class, nicely
balanced with perspective and detail.
Disappointing Korngold; stick to Heifetz. The Bruch is worthy but there are
worthy and worthier alternatives. I will keep the CD for the tingling climax
of this Chausson.
Ian Lace
There are worthy and worthier alternatives but I will keep this for the tingling
Chausson.
Masterwork Index: Bruch concerto
~~ Korngold concerto
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