Track Listing

1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Larghetto
3. Rondo (Allegro)
4. Vorspiel (Allegro moderato)
5. Adagio
6. Finale (Allegro energico - Stringendo poco a poco - Presto)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36411 in Music
• Released on: 2006-08-29
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD

Amazon.com
Without giving away much, if any, of the work's rhetorical and dramatic grandeur, Grumiaux explores the Beethoven Concerto's depths with a tone of great beauty and mature phrasing that is utterly convincing. The great Larghetto is sung with melting sweetness, yet never cloys, the Kreisler cadenza is played with plenty of finesse, and the final Allegro is exciting in its own relatively subdued way. There's virtuosity to spare, but in a reading of such knowing understanding it serves the music, not the urge to show how fast or flashy an artist can be. He gets excellent support from conductor Colin Davis and the great Concertgebouw Orchestra. Even if you have multiple versions of this Concerto, Grumiaux's belongs on your shelf. The Bruch Concerto is probably that composer's main claim to fame, and it's been beloved by fiddlers and audiences since it was written. Here, Grumiaux amply demonstrates his affinity for such High Romantic pieces, his lovely tone is perfect for Bruch's melodies, and Wallberg and the Philharmonia partner him well. Made in the early 1970s, Pentatone's quadraphonic remastering brings new freshness and life to the recordings on both the CD and SACD layers. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Marvelous Performances by the Belgian Master Arthur Grumiaux
I might as well lay my cards on the table. I adore the playing of Arthur Grumiaux. The non-cloying sweetness of his tone, the laser-like intonation, the tight vibrato, the attention to delineation of structure, the remnants of old-fashioned portamenti tastefully applied, the thoughtful but innate-sounding musicality add up to playing by a giant. Both these recordings from the 70s have been issued before on Philips. They were back then recorded in quadraphonic sound but not many of us back then had the appropriate equipment for playback. The newish company, Pentatone, which is made up of old Philips types, is busily reissuing many of those old quad recordings in the new hybrid SACD format and this is one of them. I must say that I don't hear much here to differentiate the Beethoven from the old Philips issue. And I never owned or heard the Bruch concerto in that format.

But this I can say: both these performances are magisterial. Not in the grand manner of, say, Oistrakh or Heifetz, but in the genial yet pristine style that identifies Grumiaux's playing. This is not heaven-storming Beethoven, but the playing is absolutely true to the score as I read it. His ability to convey the melancholy and pathos of the Beethoven is the best I know. I prefer it to the more grand symphonic presentation of other orchestras and soloists. The Bruch has become just about my favorite performance of all I own.

The downside: these same performances are still available on mid- or perhaps budget-priced Philips discs and on the evidence of the Beethoven I'd be inclined to say that the old versions are competitive with this newly remastered SACD versions. (Hence a four star rating rather than five.) The price is the deal-maker, I suspect, for many. So, unless you just have to have these performances in SACD, I'd suggest you look for the cheaper versions. (I think there is a twofer that includes both these performances plus several other concerti played by Grumiaux.)

Scott Morrison