Vln Cto [Import]

At the end of his life, Brahms composed his last concerto, his last symphonic work, as a testament, and we have to think of his German Requiem to understand it. The cello is the comforting voice of the mother that is preparing him for death. The violin is the weeping voice of the mother that is suffering the death she is witnessing. The orchestra is the violent and inhumane world that rolls over everything like a steamroller. Cello and violin are the call of the mother-earth, of the deeper life that comes from the fields, the forest, the mountains, even when the violin remembers Clara Schumann and becomes an echo of the waltzes in the salons, of the marvellous woman in her brilliant dress whirling around like the whirlwind that is trying to charm the composer into entering the danse macabre that this waltz becomes. But how can we evade the crushing world of industrial frenzy ? Is there any other way than escaping into the darkness of the forest, the sombreness of the vast marshes in the night, if your soul can capture the wings of some angel or bird, the wings of the violin that is teasing you with its air-free lightness, but even so can you get away from that waltzing salon ? The second movement takes you on some sea or ocean in some boat or ship that is crossing to some distant country. You can feel the movement of the waves. Or is a night full of flowing dreams ? The third movement takes you back to earth and light village dances, and then, after the harbor, the city explodes again and the violin weeps at a certain lost virginity, at the loss of life seen as the communion with the living universe, the cosmic flow of time and space. Here everything becomes chaotic. And we come back to a crushing world from which the composer tries to escape by getting down into his own soul, into the dialogue of his dual vision of the mother whose two sides are the violin and the cello, whose head is the violin and whose tail is the cello. But where can salvation be when you are chased by a frentic world ? Or is it possible to escape by joining this frenzy ? All solutions are tried and tested. But there is no way out except... The final measures are just crushing any attempt to escape and turning the escapee into powder under the hammering of the finale.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

In the 1950s and 60s, CBS/Columbia (now Sony Classical) had the great fortune to have three of America's best orchestras and their conductors on their recording roster -- Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. Nearly a half-century later, only Leonard Bernstein remains a name that even the non-classical music world knows. But in the world of the compact disc, this is a wonderful thing, because while Leonard Bernstein analog stereo recordings sell at mid-price, classic performances by Ormandy and Szell are regulated to the budget line. Well, my friends there is justice in the world because the vast majority of these "budget line" recordings are not only amazing, but some are still considered definitive more than 40 years later! One such definitive performance is this Ormandy recording of Brahms' Violin Concerto with Isaac Stern. Some felt (wrongly in my opinion) that Stern did not have the virtuosity of a Heifitz or a Menuhin, but Stern always played with such wonderful emotion and phrasing that it made up for any other supposed shortcomings. This recording is a classic example of Stern's style and with an outstanding performance of the Double Concerto tossed in as well, it becomes an essential disc. Never did something of such high quality come at such a small price. Enjoy!

There is no doubt that this is a slower version of the Brahms violin concerto than many - the first movement stretches to some 24 minutes. But what Perlman has given to this recording is such expression and emotion that I for one cannot help but love this recording. Certainly, despite having listened to many pieces of music through the years, I still have not met another that is so beautiful as this interpretation of the second movement.

Of course, the Heifetz recording is without question fantastic, and ideally don't miss that either, but I still know many who feel this is the definitive version.