Bronislaw Gimpel (violin)
Live - Volume 1
rec. c.1937-1967
DOREMI DHR-8163-64 [75:26 + 79:14]
Bronislaw Gimpel (1911-1979) was the real deal, a romanticist to his fingertips, but one whose fiery engagement with the repertoire was controlled by a fine taste. In this first volume of a survey of his off-air recordings we trace him from the later 1930s to c.1967, a three-decade span that grows ever more expert in recorded sound. He was one of a phalanx of talented fiddlers to gravitate to Carl Flesch in Weimar Berlin, and competition success and orchestral leadership followed before the inevitable emigration to America.
The first disc offers virtuoso fare in the shape of Wieniawski’s Second Concerto, recorded with the ABC Concert Orchestra directed by its pianist-conductor, Earl Wild in around 1949. This was just at the end of Gimpel’s stint as concertmaster-soloist of the orchestra, before he struck out with his Mannes-Gimpel-Silva Piano Trio. If you want a more sonically reliable example of Gimpel’s way with the work you should turn to the Vox recording with the Pro Musica Stuttgart or to his recording with the Warsaw National Philharmonic under Rezler. But if you can cope with the decent sonics for the day, you will be rewarded with a forward violin sound which showcases Gimpel’s typically multifaceted and vibrant sound. Winds are fortunately prominent and Gimpel shows his much older colleague, Mischa Elman, quite a clean pair of heels in this work. Gimpel’s RIAS recording was significantly slower than this lithe fast one.
A first-class Polonaise brillante follows, from the same concert, which is itself followed by a self-conducted performance of the first movement (only) of Saint-Saëns’ Symphonie espagnole and then by a very over-romanticised, orchestrated version of Sarasate’s Malagueña. Things are on firmer footing in the piano accompanied trio of firecrackers from 1953 where one can more clearly hear Gimpel’s tonal resourcefulness, his left hand pizzicati in the Sarasate, as well as his suavely dashing command of Auer’s arrangement of Paganini’s 24th Caprice, which Auer turns into a concert showpiece. With one of his brothers, Karol, he plays a brace of Kreisler pieces; Tambourin chinois, which he takes at a reckless pace far in excess of Kreisler’s own - but it is very exciting – and the Praeludium and Allegro which, by contrast, opens in a grand and stately manner rather removed from today’s performances. The sound on these recordings is dimmer than the companions so I assume they derive from American acetates of the late 30s, given that he emigrated to the country in 1937. The last piece is a tangy Dinicu Hora staccato where he really bends the line in true Gypsy fashion, vesting the music with incredible elan.
The combination of sweetmeats, finger busters and a virtuoso concerto is a rather heady one, programmatically, but the second disc clarifies that with three concertos; Sibelius, Mozart and Glazunov. Gimpel and Sibelius go well together. There’s a Vox Stuttgart studio recording and there’s an example of his way with it in an Audite RIAS box but this 1956 recording features the Berlin Philharmonic and Eugen Jochum, not the first person of whom one would have thought. Though the sound here is slightly recessive, Gimpel negotiates the introspection and bravura of the work with particular insight, even though the orchestra doesn’t always sound especially at ease. Gimpel is one of those rare players who reserve weight for the finale, ensuring he has plenty of power and finesse to employ; his range of tone colours, dance imperatives and whistling insouciance here are alike memorably vivid and he is every inch the preux chevalier.
In the Mozart Turkish – there’s an example of his way here with Klemperer directing rather more darkly – he is teamed with Roberto Benzi in c.1967. He is crystalline in his trills but rather lacks Grumiaux’s naturalness and aristocracy, though those sympathetic to his ethos – as I clearly am – will be prepared to overlook that; Gimpel and Grumiaux were very different animals when it came to this repertoire. Benzi and the orchestra struggle somewhat. The final work is Glazunov’s Concerto (ABC Concert Orchestra, c 1949) which takes us back to his days on the radio circuit. This is perfect repertoire for him; for his ripeness, his tonal amplitude, his unfettered romanticism, his richly vibrated and brilliantly dispatched cadenza. The conductor is noted in the documentation as Josef Stepal but it’s hard to tell from the announcer if he says Josef Stepal or Joseph Stopak; for what it’s worth, my money is on the latter.
Whoever conducts, the star of the show is invariably Gimpel, a vivid and communicative player of outstanding gifts.
Jonathan Woolf
Contents
Henryk WIENIAWSKI (1835-1880)
Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 22 (1862) [21:05]
Polonaise Brillante No. 1 in D, Op. 4 (1870) [7:36]
ABC Concert orchestra/Earl Wild
rec. live c.1949
Edouard LALO (1823 - 1892)
Symphonie espagnole in D Minor, Op. 21: Allegro non troppo (1873) [7:23]
Pablo de SARASATE (1844-1908)
Malagueña Op. 21 No. 1 (1875) [4:33]
ABC Concert Orchestra/Bronislaw Gimpel
rec, live c.1949
Henryk WIENIAWSKI
Scherzo-Tarantelle, Op. 16 (1855) [4:24]
Pablo de SARASATE
Jota Navarra, Op. 22, No. 2 [4:19]
Nicolo PAGANINI (1782-1840)
24 Caprices for solo violin, Op.1 No.24 arr. L Auer (1837) [7:26]
Richard Bechmann (piano)
rec. live 29 August 1953
Pable de SARASATE
Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20 (1878) [8:12]
Martin Krause (piano)
rec. live 13 February 1955
Fritz KREISLER (1875-1962)
Tambourin Chinois, Op. 3 [2:57]
Praeludium and Allegro (in the style of Pugnani) [5:12]
Karol Gimpel (piano)
rec. live 1930s
Grigoras DINICU (1889-1949)
Hora staccato arr Jascha Heifetz [1:51]
With piano
rec. live 1930s
Jean SIBELIUS (1865-1957)
Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.47 (1903 rev. 1905) [31:01]
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Eugen Jochum
rec. 21 April 1956
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219 “Turkish”, K219 (1775) [30:29]
West German Radio Orchestra/Roberto Benzi
rec. c.1967
Alexander GLAZUNOV (1865-1936)
Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op.82 (1904) [17:37]
ABC Concert Orchestra/Josef Stepal (Joseph Stopak?)
rec. c.1949
