Lin: Sibelius & Nielsen Violin Concertos - CBS Masterworks (DDD)

$

60

ITEM DESCRIPTION:

This outstanding and quite rare LP from CBS Masterworks (M 44548, Dutch pressing*, blue/red sash label, DDD stereo) features Cho-Liang Lin’s wonderfully evocative accounts of Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen’s Violin Concertos, awarded a Rosette a by the ubiquitous Penguin Guide – this is truly exalted playing by any measure and all those who treasure the art of the violin will find much to admire here, truly among the finest accounts ever recorded.

 

Note: On the reverse side of the jacket it is stated “Printed in Holland”; it is not indicated, one way or the other, if this is also true of the LP; presumably so, though I cannot guarantee this.

 

The exact discographic information is as follows:

 

Jean Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor Op. 47

> with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra

(rec. at Watford Town Hall, London, 1987 – producer: Steven Epstein / engineer: Tim Geelan)

 

Carl Nielsen: Violin Concerto Op. 33

> with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

(rec. at Berwald Hall, Stockholm, 19881987 – producer: Steven Epstein / engineer: Bud Graham)

 

Wrote the veteran critic Robert Layton in his review for the January 1989 issue of The Gramophone: “Cho-Liang Lin has an enviable reputation on record not only for his dazzling technique and flawless intonation but his instinctive artistry. His records of the Mendelssohn, Saint-Saens and Bruch concertos have won golden opinions—and rightly so. Silvia Marcovici is a highly accomplished Romanian-born player, who came to wider attention when she won the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in 1968. She is better known to concertgoers or BBC audiences in this country than she is to record collectors. (Apart from the present record she is at present unlisted in the Gramophone Compact Disc Catalogue.)

 

“Let me say straight away that both are well recorded. Of course, a violinist's vibrato is almost as personal a matter as is the human voice but I must confess that I found Marcovici's expressive throb in the opening theme and in the slow movement unappealing: it is in striking contrast to the purity of Ishikawa (Supraphon/Counterpoint), Accardo (Philips), Amoyal (Erato/RCA) and Kyung Wha Chung (recently restored to circulation in a three-CD Decca compilation W 421 4492DM3). By their side she also makes rather heavy weather of the finale. Cho-Liang Lin, on the other hand, brings an apparently effortless virtuosity to this movement—and for that matter the concerto as a whole. I much like the sonority he produces at the opening, which I am sure is exactly what Sibelius wanted, wonderfully clean and silvery, and the slow movement is one of the most successful I have ever heard on record: tenderness, warmth and yet restraint with not a hint of the over-heated emotions you all too often encounter. The Philharmonia Orchestra rise to the occasion under their youthful Finnish conductor. Erik Tawaststjerna makes much of the aristocratic quality for which Sibelius looked in interpreters of the concerto: it is a quality that Accardo and Perlman (EMI) have—and there is no lack of aristocratic finesse in this new account. But at the same time he encompasses the extrovert brilliance of the finale and the bravura of the cadenza with sovereign aplomb. This belongs among the classic accounts of the work along with the two Heifetz versions (HMV—nla—and RCA, listed above), Neveu (EM)), Oistrakh (Columbia and CBSnla) and Perlman.

 

“Who would have thought after the war, when Telmanyi and Egisto Tango recorded the Nielsen concerto that, 40 years on, the choice would reside between two violinists from the Far East, both fully attuned to the Nordic sensibility? Only halfa-dozen years separate it from the Sibelius, yet the two pieces breathe a totally different air. ChoLiang Lin brings no less authority to the Nielsen than he does to the Sibelius. He handles the numerous technical hurdles with breathtaking assurance and I like the simple eloquence with which he tackles the closing pages of the introduction. His perfect intonation and tonal purity excite admiration but so should his command of the architecture of this piece. There is a strong sense of line from beginning to end. Salonen has not always been a selfless guide in this composer (his accounts of the First and Fourth Symphonies are not untouched by idiosyncracy) but he is supportive here and gets good playing from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. I am inclined to think this is the finest recording of the concerto— including the pioneering version by Telmanyi, Nielsen's son-in-law—yet to be made!”

 

Incidentally, the engaging cover photo of Salonen and Lin was taken by Carol Friedman, while the superlative liner notes on the reverse side of the jacket – provided in English, German, and French – were written by Phillip Ramey.

 

CONDITION:

The gradations of condition I use are as follows: MINT, Near-Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.

 

The condition of the jacket is EXCELLENT++. The only flaws consist of very slight bumping at corners, and some minor wear along the open edge of the jacket, but that is all. Otherwise, the album almost appears as new. There are no seamsplits, bends, or owners' markings and the album remains perfectly solid, bright, and very striking in appearance – overall, an excellent collector's copy.

 

The condition of the LP itself is EXCELLENT++. Although I cannot say the surfaces are completely silent, the playback is superb and really this rates as close to near-MINT. Only those requiring an absolutely flawless copy need hesitate. Overall, this is a truly fine collector's copy.

 

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