Octo_Russ

Various Composers - Violin Showpieces [Kremer/Chailly-London Symphony Orchestra] 

This is a lovely disc on the Philips Silver Line label, i didn't even know this disc existed until fairly recently, and another purchase from Ebay, it's a disc which concentrates on the French / Belgian repertoire, veering away from usual Ravel / Saint-Saens / Sarasate etc, and concentrating on more rarer works [except for the Chausson], this fills a nice gap in my disc collection, though short on content [56 minutes], it's good on quality, and of course Kremer is great.

Gidon Kremer is Latvian, born in 1947, he's now 65, he recorded this disc in 1980-1981, the front cover booklet is fantastic, a swirl of colour [photography by Koji Kitagawa], like some sort of multi-coloured galaxy, i have a thing about colours, i was always amazed by the strong colours of lights on the Christmas tree, as well the lettering above is wonderfully placed, a great visual product.

Well i have to admit yet again, that it's the Chausson work that really moved me the most, it was only a few days ago that i talked about this piece with Kyung-Wha Chung [1st August 2012], and that's the way my music goes, sometimes it takes ages to get round to listening to the same work again, other times i'm listening to the same work the next day almost!, so the challenge is to hear the same work, yet hear different things in there, i think that the Kremer recording is clearer in the orchestra, you can nicely hear the woodwind, and the deep twang of the double basses!, or maybe it's the dull thud of the timpani! [1:37-1:53], certainly when Kremer comes in [1:57+] he's a lot more up from, you feel you're in the middle of it all as you listen to these performers, and yet there's losses too i guess, i always find the Chausson work to be full of mystery, like something swirling out of the mists, and a vague and ghostly presence also benefits, i like Kremer's complex passagework where he whips up the music into a frenzy by the orchestra [7:26-8:16], Kremer plays the high treble work passage with affection [10:22-11:05], creating a shy innocence, and afterward the more passionate and spirited section by Kremer whips up the orchestra into another heady froth [13:12-13:28], i must admit that this music has a tendency to make me close my eyes, and just revel in the music, there's a sort of a coda at the end, Kremer plays some delicious trills [13:46-14:05], and the flute mimics the violin at the end, a nice touch, and Kremer sends those trills higher and higher [14:52-15:37], until they come down at the end, lovely birdsong like.

Here's Gidon Kremer playing Chausson's Poeme on YouTube.