Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (Hybr)

Julia Fischer's performance of the Tchaikovsky Concerto is technically assured. More importantly, her technique is placed in service to the music. This is the most musical performance of the concerto that I know. The youthful Fischer (23 at the time of the recording) is beautifully supported by Maestro Kreizberg and sensitive playing by the Russian National Orchestra. The wind playing in particular is extremely sensitive and beautiful in tone.

One thing that sets this recording apart is Miss Fischer's playing of the solo part as written. Violinists of an earlier generation, including Milstein, Stern, Oistrakh, et. al, employed a revised version of the soloist part that eliminated a chunk of the first movement development and several (admittedly repetitive) passages in the finale. Furthermore octave shifts and elimination of double stops further simplified the part. In this recording, all the cuts are opened and the difficulties restored and played with aplomb.

Frankly, I had avoided this recording. With Milstein and Oistrakh already on the shelves, there didn't seem much point to acquiring a new and expensive version of a work that has never been my favorite. Well, I was wrong. This recording has forced me to re-evaluate my feelings about the concerto as music, not just a technical tour de force.

The Serenade and Valse are well played by the soloist and orchestra and Maestro Kreizberg proves his versatility by providing solid piano accompaniment for the Souvenir. The concerto is the real prize.

The recording is demonstration quality, but you will only get the full impact in the multi-channel SACD format. The standard CD mix is good but doesn't do justice to the soloist, who sounds recessed. The 2 channel SACD mix improves things somewhat, but the 5 channel version is startlingly lifelike and well balanced.

If you have multi-channel SACD capability, buy yourself a copy of this disc. You'll enjoy it for both musical and technical excellence.

Stunning and exquisite are the very words that come to mind whenever I think of the young German violinist Julia Fischer's superlative playing (Indeed, I consider myself most fortunate to have heard her perform live finally last season here in New York City with the New York Philharmonic, agreeing with others that the ample hype she's earned is ample praise for her sterling musicianship.). Now in her mid twenties, Julia Fischer embodies tremendous technical brilliance and ample lyricism in her playing. Nowhere is this more evident in her critically-acclaimed recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, in which she dazzles with musical pyrotechnics, especially in the first and final movements, and yet, not once does she forsake any empathy for Tchaikovsky's score, offering a truly moving interpretation. Stylistically, her style of playing reminds me most of a young Anne-Sophie Mutter's, but coupled too with an ample abundance of warmth, so that her style also resembles that of Joshua Bell's in its emotional intensity. Under the baton of noted Russian-American conductor Yakov Kreizberg, the Russian National Orchestra plays with ample precision, without losing its Slavic soul, as though it was the Russian equivalent of the Wiener Philharmoniker. There's refined playing from the orchestra throughout the concerto, especially from the winds and strings, at a pace that isn't leisurely at all. As well as the concerto, the Russian National Orchestra offers more of its superlative playing in the rarely heard Serenade melancolique for violin and orchestra and Valse-scherzo pieces. Conductor Yakov Kreizberg proves to be a sympathetic, sensitive accompanist too as the pianist in the Souvenir d'un lieu cher for violin and piano. This PentaTone recording truly deserved being singled out by premier classical music magazine Grammophone as an Editor's Choice recording, and not just for Fischer's magnificent performances; the sound quality is absolutely stellar too. While I still hold in high regard the recent recordings made by Vengerov and Bell of this concerto, Fischer's recording may be regarded by most as perhaps the best that is available currently.

I never write reviews, but I heard this recording on a PBS station and had to own it. There are no disappointments here in either the sound recording or the soloist, Julia Fischer. What a talent! I'm a new fan.

First, a few disclaimers:
1) I listened to the Multi-channel SACD layer only
2) My listening setup consists mainly of Stereophile Class-B components
3) My familiarity with the Tchaikovsky violin concerto is limited to a handful of live listens and only one other recorded version, performed by Midori.

That out of the way, my notes:
- This is remarkably well-recorded -- spacious and concert hall like, but with the listener positioned in the acoustic center of everything. As compared to live, Fischer is mixed a bit louder on the recording, but this is fine as far as I'm concerned.
- A beautiful interpretation. The attacks are sharp but musical and with emotion. A wonderful tone throughout. Mvmt 1 is the best I've heard.
- I got chills at several points. To my ear, the performance is technically brilliant, but when you're listening you don't care -- she draws you in causing you to listen with your emotion rather than technique, as a good author or movie director will draw you into the story rather than the syntax...masterful.
- the very final note of the 3rd movement seemed a little off to me, but otherwise everything between soloist and orchestra was pretty tight
- no clue as to what the review who gave this a 1-star was listening...sounds like either a bad disc or a faulty playback system. my opinion couldn't be more opposite.

I'd definitely recommend. And highly.

Julia Fischer gives excellent performances of the Tchaikovsky works for violin included in this CD. In the Concerto in D, she gives a sensitive and well-naunced reading. Her reading of the Seranade melancolique and the Valse-Scherzo are first-rate. But the real joy, for me, is her performance of the Souvenir d'un lieu cher. Julia Fischer's reading of the Meditation (the original slow movement of the Violin Concerto) was really touching.

This is an excellent CD. Yakov Kreizberg did an outstanding job as both conductor of the Russian National Orchestra and piano accompanist.

If you enjoy the music of Tchaikovsky, this CD is a must for your music library.