Dvorak: Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53

Joined by the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra and David Zinman, Fischer pairs the ever-popular Bruch concerto with Dvorák's undeservedly neglected but perennially fresh masterpiece - a rather more logical twinning than the ubiquitous Mendelssohn.

A former Artist of the Year at the 2007 Gramophone Awards, and 'Instrumentalist of the Year' at the 2009 MIDEM Classical Awards, Fischer signed to Decca Classics shortly afterwards and this is her fifth release for the label.

Reviewing Julia Fischer’s performance of the Dvorák Concerto in London, The Guardian wrote, “Dvorák’s Violin Concerto, a romantic showpiece too often passed over in favour of Bruch and Mendelssohn, has a piquant slow movement to compete with either. Fischer made sure we heard every note, handing us each bar with absolute technical assurance and in a lustrous, seamless tone.”

Celebrated in this collection are the violin concertos by Dvorák and Bruch that first propelled Tasmin Little into the spotlight, demonstrating her masterful interpretative skill and garnering widespread critical acclaim. These breakthrough recordings are complemented here by Little’s take on Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole and Bruch’s folk melody-inspired Scottish Fantasy, described by the violinist as ‘an admirably glorious work’.

"This strikes me as being an exceptionally fine performance, drawing one deeper into the music at each new hearing. Perlman and Giulini have given us an account of the Concerto which will, I am sure, gratify and move many Brahmsians." Gramophone Magazine

EMI MASTERS celebrates the full glory of the greatest performances from the world's greatest catalogue of recorded music. Digitally remastered at Abbey Road Studios direct from the original master tapes, these classic recordings emerge with unparalleled immediacy. You will be left in no doubt that you are in the presence of legendary musicians and ageless interpretations.

There were two surprises in the April 1983 concerts, namely the young violinist Peter Zazofsky and Tennstedt’s reading of Schubert’s Great C major Symphony. Born in Boston, Zazovsky studied with Dorothy Delay, Jaime Laredo and Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music. Starting in 1974 he won a number of prizes in competitions, including the 1980 silver medal at the Concours Musical International Reine Elisabeth in Brussels. In his Berlin début he demonstrated "the marks of the true virtuoso – the ability to take the interpretative lead in a theme" (Sybill Mahlke, Tagesspiegel). Wolfgang Schultze wrote in the Berliner Morgenpost of how the violinist "drew out the musical line in strong, bold strokes, with exemplary purity of intonation, exquisite taste and admirable sensitivity; he ably sustained the great sweep of the first two movements, the one leading into the other without a break, and the final movement, with its folk-music references, was presented with sparkling vitality – altogether a musician wholly dedicated to the work with no hint of the self-promoting virtuoso." Reactions to Tennstedt’s interpretation of the Schubert C major Symphony were uneven. His dynamic choice of tempo no doubt troubled some listeners; in the Andantes, both in the introduction to the first movement and in the second movement, most commonly heard at a more measured and unhurried pace, Tennstedt opted for faster, bolder tempi. Wolfgang Schultze (Berliner Morgenpost) wrote that the conductor had resorted to "a fairly brisk movement with ample momentum and powerful élan". But the result was "a somewhat agitated Schubert, notably coarse-grained, with exaggerated accentuation and too little romantic colouring’. According to Sybill Mahlke in the Tagesspiegel Tennstedt seemed unwilling to allow the score to "sing for itself", wanting everywhere to interpret, to read too much into every bar. "He works feverishly for every possible effect, to bring out every inner part, without allowing long phrases to breathe adequately in the slow introduction or in the Andante’s song-like line in the oboe and clarinet and second violins. In the third movement the return of the trio was strangely low-key; the Schubert that emerged was mannered and inauthentic, neglectful of innate features and spiritual qualities in the score." But reactions are hard to understand when we now listen to this recording in all its energy, dramatic intelligence and melodic fervour.

from the booklet note © Helge Grünewald, 2010

This is the second CD on this label of recordings by the virtuosic violinist Ida Haendel. These historical recordings of violin concertos rank among the musical jewels in the archives of the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra.

A double-CD of Romantic Violin Concertos celebrating the art of Ruggiero Ricci, this set includes the first international release on CD of the Ricci/Boult 1952 recording of the Beethoven. Boult characterised it as ‘perhaps the most thoughtful concerto, the one which needs for the violinist to be a great man as well as a great player’. Indeed it is a thoughtful and poised reading from both soloist and conductor, coupled with classic accounts of the Mendelssohn, Bruch and Dvorak. The booklet notes by Tully Potter include a biography of Ricci and (sometimes wry!) comments by the violinist himself on the recordings.

[Beethoven] “I do not think we are likely to get a better recording for a long while” Gramophone

[Bruch] "Ricci gives very good performances indeed of both concertos; caught out nowhere, even on the margin of intonation, by their technical demands in the outer movements, he manages also to communicate both poetry and impulse to the slow movements." Gramophone

This is Steinbecher’s debut on Pentatone. She is 27 and was taught by the same teacher as Julia Fischer. Her previous recordings for Orfeo have all got great reviews.

The conductor Nikolai Anosov was Rozhdestvensky’s father. His interpretations are distinguished by precise attention to detail and by meticulousness, as demonstrated in this performance of “From the New World”. Featuring David Oistrakh, these recordings are excellent quality and taken from 1942 & 1967.