rekindled excitement over the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Yes, PD. If you notice there is a gold stereo sticker which signifies a white and gold label first edition which sells for big bucks. Testament even went to the trouble of copying the sticker! The big giveaway which for copyright reasons Testament was unable to avoid on both label and cover is the use of EMI instead of HMV. Initially all releases were from the EMI catalogue but later they were to source other labels, Decca for example.

The company that opened up the market for facsimile LPs wasn't British but American.

But wouldn't they have to print somewhere the name of their (Testament's) label and/or other info?  And when were they doing this?

PD

[Irons]

But wouldn't they have to print somewhere the name of their (Testament's) label and/or other info?  And when were they doing this?

PD

Perhaps we should move discussion over to vinyl thread before we get moaned at.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

These are the recordings I enjoyed listening to in the last few years. The recording sound of Stern/Hilsberg is excellent. I can't believe this was recorded in 1949! @Irons Was this possibly recorded by Walter Legge? As for Erica Morini, I liked her recording with Rodzinski too. Others are Oistrakh, Erick Friedman with Sofia, early Kogan, and Bronislaw Gimpel.

[Kalevala]

These are the recordings I enjoyed listening to in the last few years. The recording sound of Stern/Hilsberg is excellent. I can't believe this was recorded in 1949! @Irons Was this possibly recorded by Walter Legge? As for Erica Morini, I liked her recording with Rodzinski too. Others are Oistrakh, Erick Friedman with Sofia, early Kogan, and Bronislaw Gimpel.

I don't know those particular recordings, but I do love the work.  Happy that you are enjoying revisiting it. 

K

[Florestan]

One to avoid at all cost:



To make Tchaikovsky's VC sound as vivid as a corpse and as exciting as a snail budging is quite an achievement. 

[Kalevala]

One to avoid at all cost:



To make Tchaikovsky's VC sound as vivid as a corpse and as exciting as a snail budging is quite an achievement. 

Ouch!

K

[DavidW]

One to avoid at all cost:



To make Tchaikovsky's VC sound as vivid as a corpse and as exciting as a snail budging is quite an achievement. 

I think that is the post of the week!

[LKB]

One to avoid at all cost:



To make Tchaikovsky's VC sound as vivid as a corpse and as exciting as a snail budging is quite an achievement. 

I will seek it out. I'm familiar with recordings by Stern ( imprint ), Heifetz, Oistrakh and Kogan, and am actually a bit curious as to what makes for a less successful result, particularly with an artist who surely must have had some knowledge of his illustrious predecessors.

We'll see if aural masochism can actually be productive. 

[Maestro267]

That Gilels recording throwing big shade. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto? Really? Like he only wrote one? The absolute disrespect!

[LKB]

One to avoid at all cost:



To make Tchaikovsky's VC sound as vivid as a corpse and as exciting as a snail budging is quite an achievement. 

The only upload I found of the entire concerto was of poor quality, particularly at both the very beginning and at the end. I'm going to link it here, but it's pretty bad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRJyyc4zhnw

There's also an upload from Warner of just the second movement, which has decent sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REzQ5_SLNrw

I think Messer Amoyal wasn't really prepared in his life to record the work. He has the technique for it, but not enough musical depth ( which only comes with experience ) to alter his phrasing, tone and projection as the music demands. And so there's a sameness, a bland delivery which isn't helped by his tendency to fade into the orchestral texture in softer passages. Indeed, he nearly disappears completely in a few spots.

I'd say it isn't really a bad recording, but too much of it is simply unmemorable. Another decade under his belt might have yielded something much more interesting .

[Irons]

These are the recordings I enjoyed listening to in the last few years. The recording sound of Stern/Hilsberg is excellent. I can't believe this was recorded in 1949! @Irons Was this possibly recorded by Walter Legge? As for Erica Morini, I liked her recording with Rodzinski too. Others are Oistrakh, Erick Friedman with Sofia, early Kogan, and Bronislaw Gimpel

Isaac Stern recorded Tchaikovsky VC in Philadelphia on 10th April 1949 and published 1953 for American Columbia. I don't think Stern and Legge ever worked together. However, less then a year later Stern with Primrose recorded Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in Paris for another British producer, Lawrence Collingwood. Only American and British Columbia share is the name and how that came about is very complicated.