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Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 & Mendelssohn Violin ConcertoRating:
Release Date: 06 May, 2003 Retail Price: $24.98 OUR Price: $21.99 You SAVE: $2.99! |
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 & Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Reviews
Almost the worst DVD in the world
Amazon did a number on its advertising. The picture of this album on the internet leaves off the note that Heifetz plays only the 1st movement of the Mendelssohn. Which may have been a blessing, though I was mad as hell. The sound of the Heifetz was shrill and piercing and unnatural and unpleasant and ugly. This was recorded in 1949. Studios were making deluxe motion pictures at that time (even The Wizard of Oz made in 1937 sounded good). So what's their excuse? Only the Rubinstein (and it was my reason for the star)was worth listening to. It was beautiful and Rubinstein must be the most perfect loveable little man I've ever seen. I wish I had his numbers on a different, good DVD. I'm going to throw this one away. I can't return it because I bought it from a seller, not from Amazon. Instead of saving $6 I lost what was it, $20. Finally the Walton. I'd never heard of Walton before (and hope to god I never do again). It's modern. That means it's all disonance and tuneless crap. I didn't finish it. Oh. And the photography in the Walton (in case you're interested in this drivel) stinks. Made in 1957. Movies were in their infancy then, don't you know, so what more can you expect. A piece of garbage and a rip-off.
Three Titans--Athletic, Authoritative, Incomparable
These three superstars performed and recorded together in various combinations and permutations from the 1930s into the 1960s, and it was during their joint appearances at the Ravinia Festival in the fifties that some whizzbang reporter headlined them as "The Million Dollar Trio." Their performances here, however, are solo turns. Decked out in a white dinner jacket, Heifetz recorded his three contributions in 1949 before a studio audience on the Bell Telephone Hour. At times the picture is smudged and grainy, and you'll hear a fair amount of strident, wavery sound (plus some rough, tough low notes that are Heifetz's own doing). But don't ask questions -- this is one of comparatively few videos by this undisputed 20th century phenomenon, and all of his trademark virtues are here in force: bright, firm tone, athletic bowing, dashing fingerwork. The result is a rousing, high-octane chase through the Mendelssohn first movement plus two choice encores -- though, in a hokey popularizing touch during Debussy's "Girl with the Flaxen Hair," the camera overlays shots of an actual hairbrushing cutie. Did it play well in Peoria?
Piatigorsky's outing is more soberly conceived, being a straightforward document of the 1957 London premiere of Walton's cello concerto -- which the performer himself had commissioned. Despite some edge blurring, the picture is improved over the Heifetz entries, ditto the recorded sound, though there are occasional fadings, burbles, and split-second lacunae -- but Piatigorsky's authority and the video's historical value are incontestable. (All the same, admirers of both this great cellist and this haunting concerto will automatically want to acquire the official studio recording of the piece, recorded just a fortnight earlier with Munch and the Boston Symphony and still available as RCA 61498. The CD features tidier intonation from Piatigorsky in the middle movement plus pioneering stereophonic sound that is startlingly vibrant, spacious, and airy throughout.)
Finally we get Rubinstein, arguably the ultimate performer -- for his astonishing stamina, huge sound, technical durability, and magical ability to deliver the goods year in and year out, he was the greatest big-hall pianist of them all. He's in his 80th year here, yet the mechanism is still in miraculous shape: fleet tempos, note-perfect running passages, incomparable mezza voce playing, and his unique use of the una corda pedal not merely to soften the tone but to alter its timbre -- cantabile passages gleam like sudden shafts of moonlight. Finally, thanks to his matchless command of natural weight principles, we not only hear a robust, sweeping line throughout (just right for middle-period Beethoven), but there are marvelous special effects -- such as the comic surprise of Rubinstein's deep, reverberent octaves at the outset of the 3rd movement cadenza. No living pianist comes close to approximating this kind of mastery. In short, you'll never hear a more engrossing Beethoven 4th, and both the picture and the monaural sound (class of '67) have clarity and range. Which is also true of Rubinstein's signature encore, the Chopin A-flat Polonaise: its performance here has the most majesty, technical control, and legato detailing of the four different versions (!) currently available by this performer on DVD.
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