Wednesday 16 March 2011

Another Beethoven Violin Concerto, but I could not resist hearing Liza Ferschtman playing it (Challenge Records). Surprisingly good orchestra is "Netherlands Symphony Orchestra" (this is probably a pseudonym). The good news is that Ms Ferschtman plays beautifully, is well integrated with the orchestra, is balanced ideally, and knows all about playing piano and forte.

The bad news is that the broad dynamic range of the excellent recording means that you need to listen to the music in a BIG room, in an isolated space, with big speakers and a powerful amplifier. Otherwise, like me, you will miss much of the pianissimo violin playing (of which there is much in this concerto). Fortunately I know the Beethoven violin concerto backwards, so I can fill in the blank spaces; fortunately Beethoven doesn't go in for pianissimo passages in harmonics. But do recording engineers not realise the constrictions most of us face when listening to recordings? I suppose I could ask my neighbours to leave the building for 40 minutes, then really turn up the volume ... But I'll probably just have to get out my headphones and listen to it that way.

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