Beethoven - Violin Sonata 9 [Zukerman/ Barenboim]My Sunday 'walk in the park' disc, this is my favourite Violin Sonata by a mile, every time i hear it i marvel at the sheer genius of Beethoven, i played this last year in my Blog [10th August 2010], in my mind Beethoven was the supreme master of the Chamber music genre, his statements are universal at times, and this Violin Sonata is one of his greatest of all.
Pinchas Zukerman is an Israeli, he's now 63, emigrated to the United States, and now i believe he lives in Canada, one of the greatest living Violinists, it's good to have his discs and interpretations, he recorded these works from 1971-1973, the front cover booklet photo is great [by Reg Wilson], it comes from the Studio Plus series, a great little series from the EMI back catalogue, i have a number of these recordings, each one seems to have a different colour scheme, this is one of the best, using red and blue, a nice mug shot of Zukerman.
Well i just can't resist the intensity of the second movement variations, Beethoven seems to reserve this device for some of his most sublime creations [think of the Archduke Trio here], each variation builds on the one before, and like waves of bliss, if the first one doesn't knock you off your feet, then maybe the second or third will, the theme is majestic [0:00-2:35], played with real dignity by Zukerman, but it's the first variation that had me in raptures [2:35-4:45], it's where Barenboim gets to really shine, the fast fingerwork really has an exciting lilt to it, lots of trills all over the place, with Zukerman only filling in the gaps, superb, like wise the second variation is where the two swap places [4:45-6:50], and Zukerman gets to bow some virtuoso lines, variation three slows things down [6:51-9:29], somewhat sour, but a welcome respite to the faster variations, the fourth variation is gentle and sweet [9:29-12:39], pizzicato's from Zukerman, the coda is quite stunning [12:39+], but it turns into a finale [13:23+], with some of Beethoven's most magical final thoughts, a lovely phrase on the piano [13:52+], and the violin [14:27+], creates a wonderful 'end of the day / dying of the light' feeling, perfect.
Here's Gidon Kremer playing the second movement on YouTube.
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