Beethoven - Violin Sonata 9 [Zukerman/ Barenboim]You know, i'm really warming to Zukerman, i don't know why, at the beginning of this month i spoke about his Bruch Violin Concerto 1 [1st August 2010], he's good, and i'm listening to him more, these Sonatas were recorded in the early seventies, and unlike other couplings of Violin Sonatas 5 & 9, they find room for Sonata 8 too.
I like the booklet, these EMI studio plus releases are very good indeed, some of the pictures are a tad out of focus, but this one is sharp enough, and EMI seem to have some great colours for the lettering block, red and blue for this one, with a good pic of Zukerman too, a close up of his head with nice shadows to show depth [photo by Reg Wilson].
The middle movement variations always seem to tug at my heart, here's the timings,
Theme - 0:00
Variation 1 - 2:36
Variation 2 - 4:45
Variation 3 - 6:51
Variation 4 - 9:30
Transition? - 12:39
Coda - 13:52
The theme is lovely and masterful [0:00-2:35], the First Variation is made up of lots of trills, the Piano seems to do the brunt of the work [2:36-4:45], the Second Variation is very much the Violin in staccato mode [4:45-6:50], the Third Variation is a lament equally for both instruments [6:51-9:29], the Fourth Variation is a gentle tune, lots of pizzicato for Violin [9:30-12:39], and then comes what i can only describe as a 'bridging intermezzo', a truly glorious tune, sounds as if it came out of his Archduke Trio [12:39-13:52], and then the wistful Coda [13:52-15:44], i suppose i'm a real sucker for this lovely Transition?/Coda, it's like the closing/ending of a memorable day, as Beethoven closes down/brings to a close these wonderful varied variations!, his genius shines again and again.
Here's Zukerman playing these Variations on YouTube.
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