Volume Five in Naxos’s Kreisler series takes us to
the LPO recordings of 1935/36. These were remakes of his early electrics,
made in Berlin almost a decade earlier and conducted by Leo Blech. All
these classic performances have been reissued many times and debate
generally centres on the superiority or otherwise of the Berlin sessions,
the consensus being that the Beethoven fared better in Berlin whilst
with the Mendelssohn honours are more even – and that’s a view I tend
to share.
In the Beethoven the profile is that much tighter,
Kreisler’s playing more centre-of-the-note, in Berlin, than it was later
to become. That said there is a huge amount to admire and enjoy in this
later performance and it still ranks amongst the finest ever committed
to disc. Listen to Kreisler’s delicious slide at 5’08 in the first movement
– but despite his infinite tonal shadings and prodigious bowing effects
this is otherwise rather clean playing with expressive devices beautifully
subsumed into the soloist’s line. Maybe, being hypercritical, one can
fault him at 10’30 – this is not infallible playing by any means – but
as Kreisler’s friend Jacques Thibaud once remarked "do you go
to concerts to listen to the wrong notes?" Certainly he is
slow – predictably yet triumphantly – at 12’00, and very much in line
with prevailing performance practice. The Larghetto has rather
more surface noise than is ideal but that doesn’t stop appreciation
of Kreisler in all his tonal glory from basking in the very romantic
plush of John Barbirolli’s conducting. Maybe the fires burn a little
less brightly in the rondo finale but Kreisler’s diminuendo before the
orchestral tuttis are unforgettable and within Barbirolli’s very emphatic
conducting the soloist spins a succulent line.
I recently reviewed a contemporaneous recording, also
issued by Naxos, of Szigeti’s Mendelssohn Concerto conducted by Beecham.
Here Kreisler is partnered by his old colleague, Landon Ronald, supposedly
the greatest Elgarian conductor, after the composer himself. The two
had in fact recorded Mozart’s K218 in 1924, a late acoustic and a fine
performance. Rather better than Szigeti - and at a somewhat surprisingly
slightly quicker tempo – Kreisler vests the music with comprehensive
tonal resources; Ronald is an excellent foil for his soloist’s sweetness
and wizardly summoning up of varieties of tonal lustre and expressive
devices. His bowing is still remarkable and if we ignore some more or
less insignificant slips – including one very bad one at 7’50 in the
first movement cadenza – this is still a thoroughly convincing and abundantly
affectionate performance. On balance it’s as good as the earlier recording
in Berlin and, in better sound, with greater orchestral clarity, a most
recommendable recording.
Jonathan Woolf
Fritz Kreisler, violin