Beethoven - Violin Sonata 5 [Szeryng/ Haebler]Last month i wrote about how much i enjoyed Violin Sonata 9 [9th March 2010], now it's the turn of Sonata 5, in comparison it may seem a lighter work, 'spring' gives the idea it's a youthful work, but Beethoven was in his early thirties when he composed it.
Henryk Szeryng is one of those sublime masters that you can talk of in the same breath as Kempff and Rubinstein [both of whom he recorded with], he has a lovely line, and works best with others of his calibre, [see a discussion on 'why is he so underrated'].
The second movement Adagio is so sublime, two things that strike me about his Szeryng's playing, first is that he seems to steal in unawares, there's no loud 'look at me, here i am' phrases, secondly he has such a sweet tone, nothing ugly here, listening to the longer lines in the middle of this movement, both Szeryng and Haebler have a lovely intensity about them [2:40-3:46], i especially like the delicious turn of phrase at [3:21], a truly great partnership.
Here's Szeryng playing the second movement on YouTube, this time with Rubinstein on piano.
