Sunday 24 January 2010

The great Naxos empire is re-issuing the early Fritz Kreisler recordings (transferred by Ward Marston). Volume I (to which I have just finished listening) comprises Kreisler's recordings from 1904 and 1910. The first thing that is staggering about these transfers is how little one needs to make allowances for the sound of over a century ago (unless one is a fan of piano accompaniments, which do here sound a bit dim). But Kreisler's playing comes over loud, sonorously and clear. He was here at his peak (in 1910 he was 35 years old) and the playing is just wonderful, with a tremendous palette of bow strokes, incredible trills (viz the Corelli-Tartini variations) and Kreisler's own special double stops. Overlaid with Fritz's inimitable sense of style for the 24 tracks of this CD. The disc should be a compulsory purchase for all who claim to play the violin. I have most of these recordings already in many guises (espcially from Strad and Symposium) but the Naxos disc is a winner.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's hope for more Fritz Kreisler to come out on 78, LP, CD and film at the Kreisler anniversary in 2012. On January the sixth, 2012, DGG will release a 2 CD contribution to Fritz Kreisler "Liebesfreud, Liebeslied" (2:10:48), performed for the major part by Ruggiero Ricci, violin and Brooks Smith at the piano. Some tracks are with Kreisler himself.
Cheers,
Stefan

Harry Collier said...

Ricci does not spring to mind as an ideal Kreisler violinist. Let us hope he plays in tune.