Beethoven: Violin Concerto (CD review)

Also, "Kreutzer" Sonata. Vadim Repin, violin; Martha Argerich, piano; Riccardo Muti, Vienna Philharmonic. DG B0009663-02 (2-Disc set).

Elevate this Beethoven Violin Concerto to at least near the top of the pile. Its impeccable combination of performance and sound, with the addition of an equally appealing "Kreutzer" Sonata, make formidable competition for any other front-runners.

Russian-born Vadim Repin says that he waited until he was in his mid-thirties to record the Violin Concerto because "If I had recorded it earlier in my career, I would now need to do it again." Well, I suppose you could say that of any performer and any work; a recording is a document of how the performer feels about the music at a given time. Still, I suppose Repin means he has now matured enough to do the music justice.

In any case, he does the Concerto justice, indeed, although, to be fair, the interpretation doesn't sound significantly different from any other good Romantic reading. Repin says Menuhin was his inspiration, but his big virtuosic treatment of the piece sounds more like my own favored Szeryng (Philips) or maybe even Heifetz (RCA) recordings, although it hasn't quite the dark overtones found in the Perlman record (EMI). Repin is helped immensely by Riccardo Muti and the Vienna Philharmonic, accompanying with bravura gusto and utmost sensitivity by turns. Repin's is a broad, sweeping performance, filled with excitement, passion, and joy, lasting almost forty-six minutes, and worth every minute.

Repin also says he wasn't sure what appropriate coupling might accompany the Violin Concerto and finally chose the "Kreutzer" Sonata. He plays it brilliantly on the violin, with celebrated pianist Martha Argerich accompanying him, but because it's a long work, too, it requires a second disc. Fortunately, the folks at DG are not asking double the price, so it's like getting a second disc for the cost of a single full-priced one. Who could complain about getting any performance from Ms. Argerich for free?

DG recorded the two pieces in February and June of 2007, and, miracle of miracles, they appear to have recorded it minus a live audience. I looked in vain for any indication on the packaging of "live performance" or "recorded in concert," but found no such reference. You may know by now that I have not found most live recordings sounding very good, so I was delighted before I ever started listening, and I was not disappointed. The sound is the best I have heard in either work. In the Violin Concerto, especially, there is an enormous dynamic range, dead-quiet backgrounds, and a realistically ambient setting in the Vienna Musikverein. What we hear is clear, well-focused sound, with a natural acoustic bloom. The set made me a believer.

Adapted from a review the author originally published in the $ensible Sound magazine.

JJP