A novel coupling. Goldmark’s
Concerto and Brahms’ Double Concerto
were written a decade or so apart so
they make reasonable geographic and
contemporary disc mates. And it’s welcome
– and unusual – to find a violinist
who shares record room in this way after
contributing his own solo effort. But
Schmid is an unusually rounded musician,
both in the range of his interests and
in this willingness to contribute to
the non-soloistic repertoire generally
– he’s a noted chamber player for instance.
When he played the
Goldmark in Vienna he apparently caused
something of a stir. Part of the reason
would be a prodigal’s return with an
unusual concerto, though doubtless it
reflected admirably on his own eloquence
as a musician. Though reference was
apparently made to Kreisler in the Viennese
papers a better exponent to hold up
would be Milstein whose concerto this
"was" for some time insofar
as it was anyone’s. More recently we
have seen a revival of interest in its
elegant charms – Perlman, Bell and Chang
have all recorded it and gone are the
days of nicely cut single-sided 78 recordings
of just the second movement Andante.
Milstein took a quicker and more lissom
view of the first movement than Schmid
but there’s little doubting the sense
of watchful introversion with which
he enters with his first withdrawn statement.
The second subject is very sweetly spun
and with considerable daring when it
comes to matters of dynamics. The orchestral
lower strings can lack some heft but
the subsequent fugal passage is lightly
etched and with some bluff humour as
well. Schmid’s Andante has few concessions
for the antimacassar brigade; it’s quite
brisk and not at all over-emoted and
full of effective lightness of articulation.
The finale is nicely sprung, Schmid’s
tone taking on a generous but never
cloying sweetness, though the recording
isn’t flattering to the orchestra where
one finds rather cloudy voicings and
a certain lack of definition.
The Brahms receives
an intimate and sensitive traversal
but which exposes weaknesses in orchestral
ensemble and the recording. Horn and
viola choirs can muddy and on occasion
overbalance the soloists and for all
their commitment the orchestra sounds
undernourished. Elsewhere, especially
in the third movement, we have the reverse
problems; the orchestral tuttis are
too far recessed. Ramon Jaffé
dovetails well with Schmid but the cellist’s
tone has a bit of a rasp to it and can
be buzzily nasal – this allied to the
fact that he has something of a halo
around the instrument in the recorded
sound. The opening movement is rather
dogged, the slow one relatively quick
but not breathless, the finale subject
to some intonational buckles and a gemutlisch
end that ultimately lacks tensile strength.
The question of recommendations
is rendered problematic by the coupling.
The Brahms needn’t detain one for long;
the Goldmark comes into competition
with Bell (coupled with Sibelius – Sony)
and an all Goldmark disc with Sarah
Chang (EMI), not to mention the 1957
Milstein/Blech on Testament and the
fabulous Perlman on EMI. My choices
would be the latter two but Bell’s is
a fine contribution to the discography
and Chang’s is not so far behind.
Jonathan Woolf
Benjamin Schmid (violin) 
