Beethoven Violin Concerto

Beethoven's violin concerto is a difficult work to play, mainly because of its long first movement (22-24 minutes, on average). Of the many, many recordings of the work I have, my heart gravitates usually to three: Adolf Busch (live at Carnegie Hall, 8th February 1942), Erich Röhn (live 12th January 1944) and Georg Kulenkampff (studio 1936). All three have in common that they are played by classical German artists of the 1930s, with classical German conductors of the same period (Schmidt-Isserstedt, Furtwängler, Fritz Busch). In all cases the playing is simple and straightforward, with no attempt to push “my beautiful violin” or “my extraordinary technique” or “my new outlook on this work”. They are simply three recordings from a golden age of performances of the great German classics.

These thoughts were provoked by a new release from Pristine Audio of Kulenkampff's recording. As usual, Andrew Rose delivers a state-of-the-art transfer that enables the listener to sit back and forget about the 1936 date. Modern collectors of great recordings are heavily indebted to transfer artists such as Rose, Obert-Thorn, Ward Marston, Michael Dutton, et al – would they had been let loose on the Russian treasures that were mangled by the likes of the despised Russian Disc.

The same evening as I re-sampled with pleasure the Kulenkampff CD, I broke into the 10-CD box of Otto Klemperer recordings from the 1950s and 1960 for which I paid a glorious total of £7.90, including delivery. The box contains all the Beethoven symphonies, two of Brahms and three of Bruckner and I sampled Beethoven's fourth symphony that I so disliked when it was thoroughly shaken and stirred by Riccardo Chailly. Well, Klemperer's Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra is not on the level of Chailly's Gewandhaus Orchestra, nor is the live recording of 1954 for Klemperer up to Decca's modern capture. But there is a warmth and classical rightness to Klemperer's reading that puts Chailly to shame. Timings do not mean too much, since timing is as much felt as measured, but I sense Klemperer is even faster than Chailly in the third and fourth movements (the old man must have been in one of his “up” moods). I sense I am going to enjoy this 10-CD Klemperer box – all £7.90 of it.