Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major, Op. 12, No. 1 (1797-98) [20:12]
Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24, “Spring” (1800-01) [23:48]
Violin Sonata No. 8 in G major, Op. 30, No. 3 (1801-02) [15:41]
Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47, “Kreutzer” (1802-03) [28:01]
Violin Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 96 (1812) [27:44]
Violin Sonata No. 8 in G major, Op. 30, No. 3 (1801-02) [16:17]
Adolf Busch (violin)
Rudolf Serkin (piano)
rec. 1937-50, Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, Washington DC
PRISTINE AUDIO PACM104 [63:28 + 71:59]
The notable thing about this twofer is that it contains four first releases of Library of Congress sonata performances by Adolf Busch and Rudolf Serkin. They date from December 1937 to November 1950 and were given in the Library’s Coolidge Auditorium. Two 1937 performances were broadcast by NBC and were recorded off–air; they are among the traversals receiving premiere release. There are two performances of the G minor, one from 1943 and the other from 1948. Of the two it’s the latter that is making its first appearance. I reviewed the former when Music & Arts released its tranche of Busch-Serkin material.
Before the sonata starts there is a speech of introduction from Gertrude Clarke Whittall who had presented five Strads to the Library. One can hear Busch tuning up before he starts the D major sonata. His tone sounds rather thin at the beginning and it takes him a little time to play himself in. The recording is good and close but it’s an inevitable corollary that Serkin is backwardly placed in the acoustic spectrum. The playing is typically buoyant, vibrant and lyric, Busch utilising his ‘affecting’ portamenti (sometimes overdone when heard en masse) to advantage. He always embedded this element of pathos in performances of the Spring Sonata as this live 1937 reading – never before published – shows as clearly as the famous 1933 78rpm set. His long-breathed phrasing in the slow movement and his enjoyment of the off-beat Scherzo go a long way to characterising the work with both solemnity and high spirits.
Returning to the G major sonata from April 1943 one finds that though Lani Spahr’s transfer on M&A was very acceptable, Mark Obert-Thorn has brought the sound forward and it emerges more clearly defined by a long way. By 1948 Busch is a just a touch slower than his former self, though hardly by much. He plays with warmth. The Kreutzer was recorded in October 1944 and fine though it is to have an ancillary performance to his commercial 78, this one has two problems; the first is the performance and the second the recording. Regarding the latter, there are numerous acknowledged dropouts in the second movement. They are so serious that I suspect that even Pristine might have harboured some doubts as to whether it was feasible to have released it and one tends to wait for the next dropout with a feeling of imminent doom. As for Busch’s playing, for him a Presto indication had the same effect a red rag does to a bull. The result is a first movement that’s breathless and gabbled and Serkin sounds in bad humour too. The violinist is at it again in the finale. It’s only fair to add that in his page-long notes Tully Potter praises Busch’s Innigkeit in the opening and his ‘devilish glee’ in the finale. To each his own, I suppose.
The Tenth sonata dates from 1950 and was on the M & A album. It’s heard in rather compromised, watery, distant sound. Even Obert-Thorn can’t work miracles from such inferior source material but has done the best he can.
Clearly this will be of particular interest to Busch admirers; where duplication of material exists the transfers favour Pristine over Music & Arts.
Jonathan Woolf
Recording details
Radio opening announcement [3:56]
1: NBC broadcast, 14 December 1937 First release
5: NBC broadcast, 15 December 1937 First release
8: 27 April 1943 & 16 January 1948 ∙ First release
9: 7 October 1944 ∙ First release
10: 3 November 1950
