The good news for Kreisler fanciers is the establishment of a
Naxos complete solo recording series. Collectors will know that
the concertos and other things
- transcriptions and the Victor Symphony Orchestra/Charles O’Connell sides
for instance - have already been on their books for a good time, so working backwards
in this way is to be applauded. The complete solo recordings also includes all
known alternative takes - for those of a collecting disposition Ward Marston
notes that this will include a hefty number of previously unreleased alternatives.
The recordings with his brother Hugo and the single piano recording he made,
along with the Farrar and McCormack sides, will also be released under this series’ rubric.
That then is a background and a taster for what’s to come.
The last time Marston undertook wholesale restoration of these solo Kreisler
recordings, to the best of my knowledge, was back in 1987 when he presented two
big boxed LP sets for subscribers of The Strad magazine. These didn’t include
the early 1904 G & Ts but did include the Complete Victors and also the Early
Electrics 1925-29; the concerto recordings made during these years were also
included. I’ve done A/B listening, and to some of the 1910 Victor 78s themselves,
and am happy to report that Marston has done a first rate job here. His Strad
transfers are solidly eclipsed. There is a considerable increase in definition,
in the piano sound spectrum, which is now far more audible and effectively realised.
With increased clarity has come a complete diminution of the sense of diffusion
that sometimes surrounded those earlier transfers.
So one can listen to these early inscriptions with confidence and simply admire
the epoch-making playing. His first session, in Berlin, produced a singing Bach
Prelude in his own arrangement (with piano accompaniment of course), a vibrant
Tchaikovsky, where his tone retains vibrancy even in the higher positions, and
a two-on-one side combination of Sulzer and François Schubert. The technological
advances between the Berlin session and those made in New York for Victor in
1910 are palpable. The sequence of successful sides made with pianist George
Falkenstein during May was amazing and in particular those made on the 13
th.
These included the first of his original compositions - as opposed to arrangements
- to be released;
Caprice viennois. He plays Dvořák’s
Humoresque with
delicacy and grace, and the
Meditation from
Thaïs (two
takes are here) with sustained singing legato. His own
Liebeslied has
inimitable grace and poise and we’re fortunate that two takes of
Liebesfreud have
survived; the issued take and one unpublished on 78. He reprised the two-on-one
device by coupling Schubert’s
Moments musicaux No.3 with Rameau’s
Tambourin -
both Kreisler’s arrangements - on one 78 side. And he revisited the Tchaikovsky
he’d recorded in Berlin and reprised it for Victor in New York. He essays
Smetana’s
From My Homeland, or at least the second part, in two
performances made a few days apart - both takes were issued at the time. Cottentet’s
Chanson
- Méditation is now, I think, reckoned to have been composed by Kreisler.
The roll-call of recordings exemplifies the profoundly important contribution
he made to the art of violin playing. A generation and more changed its whole
ethos as a result of his advances in the use of continuous vibrato. These earliest
examples of his art show graphically how and why this was the case.
Jonathan Woolf
see also review by Göran Forsling
Track listing
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685 - 1750)
1. Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006: I Prelude in E (arr. Kreisler) [3:14]
2. Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D, BWV 1068: II Air on the G string (arr. Wilhelmj)
[2:38]
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840 - 1893)
3.
Souvenir de Hapsal Op. 2; No. 3
Chant sans paroles (arr. Kreisler)
[2:52]
Joseph SULZER (? - ?)
4. Sarabande Op. 8 [1:56]
François SCHUBERT (1808 - 1878)
5.
L’abeille (The Bee) Op. 13, No. 9 [1:00]
II. Victor Talking Machine Company, New York City, May 1910
Bedrich SMETANA (1824 - 1884)
6. From My Homeland: No. 2 Andantino ‘Bohemian Fantasy’ [4:10]
Stephen Collins FOSTER (1826 - 1864)
7. Old Folks at Home (arr Kreisler) [3:14]
Fritz KREISLER (1875 - 1962)
8.
Caprice viennois, in G flat, Op. 2 [3:26]
Antonín DVOŘÁK (1841 - 1904)
9. Humoresque in G flat Op. 101 No. 7 [3:42]
Jules MASSENET (1842 - 1912)
10. Thais: Meditation (arr. Martin Marsick) [3:50]
11. Thais: Meditation (arr. Martin Marsick) [3:59]
Fritz KREISLER
12.
Tambourin chinois [3:25]
13.
Liebesleid [3:51]
14.
Liebesfreud [3:20]
15.
Liebesfreud [3:22]
Bedrich SMETANA
16. From My Homeland: No. 2 Andantino ‘Bohemian Fantasy’ [4:26]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833 - 1897)
17. Hungarian Dance No. 5 (arr. in G minor Joachim) [2:17]
Fritz KREISLER
18. Variations on a Theme of Corelli (in the style of Tartini) [2:59]
19.
Caprice viennois, Op. 2 [3:37]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797 - 1828)
20.
Moments musicaux, D.780, No. 3 [1:53]
Jean-Philippe RAMEAU (1683 - 1764)
21.
Les fêtes d’Hébé: Tambourin (arr. Kreisler)
[1:52]
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY
22.
Souvenir de Hapsal Op. 2; No. 3
Chant sans paroles (arr. Kreisler)
[2:44]
Rawlins COTTENET (? - ?)
23.
Chanson - Méditation [4:03]
Johann Sebastian BACH
24. Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006: III. Gavotte en Rondeau in E (arr Kreisler)
[3:14]
Fritz
Kreisler (violin)
