RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 (cadenza: Kreisler/Zimbalist) (1878) [43:09]
Jean SIBELIUS (1865-1957)
Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 (1903-5) [32:59]
Efrem Zimbalist (violin)
Boston Symphony Orchestra/Serge Koussevitzky (Brahms); Cleveland Orchestra/Rudolf
Ringwall (Sibelius)
rec. broadcast, 9 January 1944, Severance Hall, Cleveland (Sibelius); 30 March
1946, Symphony Hall, Boston (Brahms)
PRISTINE AUDIO PASC 307 [77:33]
Quite why it was that Efrem Zimbalist (1889–1985) recorded hardly anything
is a mystery to me. There’s certainly nothing here to support the ostracism.
Was he a difficult character? Who knows?
In any event these are special performances and the recordings have been made
to sound very healthy indeed. They are mono and there’s a suggestion of ferocity
in the treble but Zimbalist’s silky and friction-less legato is very much
in evidence. This is combined with a juicy succulence of tone. If there is
a touch of Hollywood limelight it has a wonderfully seductive glow. It reminded
me of the effect – recently encountered – of Albert Spalding in the Barber
Violin Concerto (West
Hill). Violinist aficionados need to hear Zimbalist’s Brahms. It is simply
glorious and even astonishing. The audio sources were in good heart with only
the odd scuff in the Brahms second movement. Much the same applies to the
Sibelius except that there is a significant defect within the first four or
so minutes of the recording. Here is the elite producer and audio restoration
engineer, Mark Obert-Thorn:-
A word is in order about a particularly unusual problem in the Sibelius. The
source material I worked from here was an open-reel tape containing rough,
unjoined transfers of eight 78 rpm acetate sides. The recording of the first
side (up to 4:09 on Track 5) was flawed by a strange post-echo. Rather than
the sound being delayed by a second or two (not uncommon on disc sources or
due to tape print-through), this delay inexplicably lasts a full eight seconds.
The effect is of a sort of subdued echo but its presence is unmistakable.
Even so the excellence of this version shines out largely undimmed.
Jonathan Woolf has written up this disc more effectively than I ever could
so I refer you to his review. However for this listener these two recordings
place Zimbalist’s Brahms and Sibelius in my personal pantheon. This includes
Oistrakh (Sibelius;
Tchaikovsky), Damen (Sibelius),
Kogan (Tchaikovsky – still awaiting that perfect transfer), Heifetz (Elgar,
Walton), Rosand (Sinding)
and Dennis Simons (Bax – radio broadcast never issued commercially).
These recordings are to be prized … not to be missed on any account.
Rob Barnett
Simply glorious and even astonishing. Not to be missed on any account.
Postscript from Mark Obert-Thorn
Recently, a different source for the Zimbalist Sibelius Concerto surfaced
which does not have the echo problem in the first four minutes. I have incorporated
this into my original transfer and the corrected version is now available
through the Pristine website. Owners of the previous release can contact Pristine
for a replacement. The details are on the webpage for this release: http://www.pristineclassical.com/LargeWorks/Orchestral/PASC307.php