Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Op.35, Serenade melancolique Op.26, Valse-Scherzo Op.34, Souvenir d'un lieu cher - Julia Fisher, Y. Kreizber

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Op.35, Serenade melancolique Op.26, Valse-Scherzo Op.34, Souvenir d'un lieu cher

Julia Fisher, Y. Kreizber, Russian National Orchestra

01. Concerto for violin in D, Op. 35: I. Allegro moderato [0:18:05.39]
02. II. Canzonetta (Andante) [0:06:44.53]
03. III. Finale (Allegro vivacissimo) [0:10:11.08]
04. Serenade melancolique, Op.26 for violin and orchestra: Andante [0:09:33.24]
05.Valse-Scherzo Op.34 for violin and orchestra: Allegro (Tempo di Valse) 
06. Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op.42 for violin and piano: I. Meditation [0:09:17.38]
07. II. Scherzo [0:03:15.17]
08. III. Melodie [0:03:22.17]

April 2007 Gramophone Editor's Choice

Fischer has the greater fun and fantasy and shows what a distinctive artists she is.

Julia Fischer brings fearsome concentration to a concerto that is so often an excuse for self-indulgence. She also brings absolute control of colour and tone.

Fischer realises that you don't have to wallow in romanticism for the piece to work its magic. Kreizberg and the fabulous Russian National Orchestra provide superb support.

Also:

March 2007 / BBC Music Magazine: This month's Orchestral Choice

David Nice / BBCmusic magazine

If you thought Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto was just a succession of pretty melodies, then Julia Fischer’s interpretation will make you think again. Like the great David Oistrakh, she has a notable way of giving the violin a speaking intonation and pausing for thought in mid-flow, so that Tchaikovsky’s lengthy first movement is punctuated by a series of interior monologues. Not that this should in any way suggest undue seriousness: Fischer always knows when to lighten the mood, or how best to judge the tension and release of a musical paragraph, and in this she is supported to the hilt by a personable but never too overbearing Russian National Orchestra under the baton of Yakov Kreizberg, likeable from the opening string phrase. The long cadenza, though, is the heart and soul of the movement, beautifully rounded off by a magical pair of trills before the orchestral flautist steals back in with the principal melody. There’s subtle duetting with the first clarinet in the most introspective – but again never too heavy-going – of Canzonettas, and the two other slow movements on the disc, including the Meditation which was Tchaikovsky’s original candidate for the centrepiece of the Concerto, are soulfully done, with sensitive partnering from Kreizberg in the violin-and piano pieces and an especially effective dying fall, with more superb trilling, for the Sérénade mélancolique. In the Concerto’s vivacious finale and the headlong Valse-Scherzo, Fischer makes light of the technical difficulties with spoton pitching throughout; there isn’t an aspect of any of these works in which this world-class virtuoso fails to excel. Pentatone’s hybrid CD/SACD is superbly natural in both formats, with some understated spotlighting of the characterful orchestral woodwind.

And:

David Hurwitz / Classics Today

For a work so popular, and so highly favored by record companies, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto hasn't been getting too much attention lately. In any case, great performances are few and far between, but this newcomer certainly belongs on anyone's short list of truly outstanding versions. It has everything: transcendent virtuosity, tons of excitement in the finale, and perhaps most importantly of all, a soloist with both taste and a personal sound that allows her to make the music her own. Today's violin soloists are so well trained that we tend to forget the difference between great technique and great timbre. Fischer has both. Right from the opening of the first movement her sound positively glows. Partly it's a function of her well-controlled vibrato, and chalk up the rest to perfect intonation. Fischer's double-stops, in a work that's full of them, are so in tune, and so musical, that it's frightening. Her sweetly singing tone makes for a Canzonetta that truly communicates like a song, as if Fischer commanded a genuine human voice and not an instrumental approximation. Yakov Kreizberg has his orchestra in top form, following her every step of the way, and the couplings are equally fine, particularly the eloquently phrased Sérénade. Ordinarily I don't like mixed programs of orchestral and chamber music, but the Souvenir really belongs in this collection of Tchaikovsky's music for violin, and Kreizberg makes as fine an accompanist at the piano as he does on the podium. In terms of production, this also is one of PentaTone's best. The sound is warm, present, very well balanced, and happily not excessively biased toward the rear channels in SACD format. So if you're looking for a splendid new Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto that offers superior artistic values and excellent SACD surround sonics, this is definitely the one to get. Keep your eye on Fischer; she belongs with artists such as Hillary Hahn and James Ehnes in the front rank of today's rising stars of the violin. [1/17/2007]

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RECORDING OF THE MONTH

Ian Lace / musicweb-international

First, a word about the recorded sound of this release. This is a Hybrid Multichannel Super Audio recording. I listened to it on our Bang and Olufsen four column speaker system. I was impressed with the natural concert hall/recital room sound. Soloist and orchestra are well balanced in a warm and spacious acoustic with good solid bass and clarity and firmness even in the loudest perorations. The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto is one of the most famous in the repertory; and one of the most often recorded. Yet the talent of Julia Fischer is so awesome, her reading of this ‘old warhorse’ so fresh, so full of fire and vitality and wistful tenderness, and articulation, a model of clarity, that I unhesitatingly place it up with the finest interpretations including those by Heifetz, Milstein, Stern, Chung, Vengerov and Repin to name but a few. Kreizberg’s support excites and beguiles. All these works, as you will note from the header, were composed within a short time frame, in the late 1870s; the Sérénade mélancolique, of 1875, being the earliest. Tchaikovsky’s own comments sum up its character: “Melancholic passion, hopeless yearning and bitter thoughts of death seem to us to be unreal, false, almost kitschy in the dragging waltz disguise. And yet the music of the Sérénade is so simple and natural, so vividly true to life.” The work is wintry and one can discern something of a pre-echoing of the style of Sibelius. Fischer rises with élan to the technical difficulties of the little-known showpiece, Valse-Scherzo, a demanding Allegro. It is coy when the furioso sparks do not fly. Altogether great fun, a little gem. Yakov Kreizberg puts down his baton and goes to the piano to partner Julia Fischer with brio and sensitivity in Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d’un lieu cher. Its opening ‘Méditation’, developed from the original Andante of the Violin Concerto - replaced by the ‘Canzonetta’ - is yearningly lyrical and passionately dramatic. The ‘devilish’ ‘Scherzo’ rushes headlong with a sort of impatient sweetness at its centre but it is the concluding ‘Mélodie’ that lingers in the memory, another of Tchaikovsky’s lovely melodies. Fischer’s awesome talent makes for a performance that can compare with the best in a crowded list of recordings of this very popular concerto. Imaginative, intelligent programming further lifts this album.

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