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Kreisler & Rachmaninov - The Dynamic Duo · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:06
  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  I haven't really covered any chamber music with
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  piano on this podcast, so I'm going to make amends,
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  and we might as well start at the top with three
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  recordings that not only have enjoyed legendary
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  status nearly one whole century after they were
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  recorded. But they also deserve to be called
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  legendary. These are the three large -scale works
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  for violin and piano, recorded by violinist Fritz
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  Kreisler and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff. And
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  these recordings date from 1928. They are Schubert's
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  Duo in A Major. Beethoven's Sonata in G Major,
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  Op. 30 No. 3, and the Sonata No. 3 in C Minor,
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  Op. 45 by Edvard Grieg. From the first to last
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  notes in all of these recordings, you sense an
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  immediate rapport and mutual affinity between
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  Kreisler and Rachmaninoff, even though they are
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  quite different musicians. Kreisler is affectionate
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  and songful, while Rachmaninoff is assertive
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  and even gruff at times. But they both think
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  in long phrase groups, and they are never afraid
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  of projecting. In the Schubert duo. Chrysler's
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  portamentos, you know, the way he slides from
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  one note to another, may sound kind of old -fashioned
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  to modern ears, but they never sound arbitrary,
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  these slides, and they never sound slurpy or
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  self -indulgent. These gestures always have such
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  a clear and specific expressive point. And to
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  hear Chrysler in his prime is such a treat. intonation
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  is dead of center, and his rich, beefy tone,
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  which is almost viola -like, is in full focus.
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  And for those who thought that Heifetz began
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  where Kreisler left off, well, Kreisler could
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  really play. I mean, just check out his amazing
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  double -stop technique in the second movement
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  of the Beethoven alone. And then there is Rachmaninoff's
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  rhythmic drive and his trademark left -hand accents
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  and his dynamic awareness, which really come
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  together splendidly in the Beethoven sonata.
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  And to hear Rachmaninoff in Beethoven... play
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  with such authority, you know, it makes you regret
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  that he did not record any solo Beethoven besides
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  his wonderful yet unfortunately abridged recording
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  of the 32 variations in C minor. Now, there are
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  no stylistic issues whatsoever with the Grieg
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  sonata. This is simply impassioned and emotionally
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  generous music making. Maybe the Romanza movement
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  is a little indulgent in regard to rubato, but
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  there's not a vulgar bone in this recording's
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  body. And actually, there's an alternate performance
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  of the Beethoven, which was called from alternate
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  takes made at the same sessions as the takes
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  that were released. And the preferred takes,
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  the more familiar ones, are generally cleaner.
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  maybe the alternate takes are a little more spontaneous.
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  The most impactful transfers of these three Kreisler
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  -Rachmaninoff performances are those effected
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  by Mark Obert Thorne that he did for the Noxus
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  label. I don't think that this physical disc
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  was ever made available in the United States,
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  but you can find it as an import. So if you don't
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  have these recordings with Fritz Kreisler and
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  Sergei Rachmaninoff at the top of their technical
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  and musical and communicative form, you really
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  have to have them in your collection. And with
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  all due respect to Batman and Robin, Kreisler
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  and Rachmaninoff were the original. dynamic duo,
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  except no substitute. This is Jed Disler, and
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  you've been listening to The Piano Maven, your
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  friendly podcast guide to piano recordings. Take
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  good care, and I look forward to being with you
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  for the next episode.