A disc that seems to appear in my Blog Regular [29th December 2011 & 30th January 2010], and no wonder, it's such a treasured disc and performance, i'm glad i bought this on Ebay when i saw it, a Concerto that is becoming more and more entrenched in my heart the more and more i listen to it, it's a shame that his earlier Violin Concertos don't stand up to the quality of this one, and the same applies to his Symphonies, seems like he hit quality on the number three!, not a great deal of music on this disc [only 47 minutes], but it's more than made up for in quality.
Augustin Dumay is French and now 63, he recorded this disc in 1982 when he was 33, one of the great things about this disc is the front cover, it's a brilliant portrait [by Roberto Estrada], a superb use of using out of focus to highlight that which is in focus, i like the colours, a blue green background, and the red of the tank top really brightens up the picture, and the lettering is excellent, blue at the top, and lightening to white at the bottom, it makes a great disc even greater.
Well it's usually the heavenly slow movement which is the highlight of this piece, and i must admit that it hit a real soft spot this time, but amazingly it was the last movement Molto Moderato E Maestoso [very moderate and majestic] that really hit the spot!, i must admit that in listening to this movement again, that Dumay is very individual, especially in the introduction, maybe a bit to hesitant, and too fussy with intonation, but this is only a small gripe, his violin sings nice and sweet, and he's a very accurate fiddler in the faster sections, he plays somewhat quietly, and maybe a bit too treble of tone, or is it the recording?, there's some very delicate playing from Dumay and Yazaki [3:56-5:09], and the recording is nice and crystal clear to hear both ends of the spectrum, i like Dumay's way with playing the more virtuoso sections [7:19-7:48], and makes me realise how good the same thing is at the start [1:08-1:35], and it's easy to miss out on some of the most wondrous stuff, and in giving it yet another spin, how wonderful the more lyrical and sweet refrains there are [2:33-3:07], and i guess how ultimately it's easy to like and comment on almost everything about the movement, and it's amazing that this Concerto can be played so many different ways, with different a different emphasis, and yet still be a valid interpretation each time, i love the build up to the great forte towards the end [8:47-9:00], it's a tremendous moment that is unleashed big time by the horns and brass [9:01-9:20], now that's the 'majestic' part of the title, the whole thing is cast in the key of B Minor, a nice dark key, that has as it's bedfellows Dvorak's Cello Concerto, Schubert's Eighth, and Tchaikovsky's Sixth, heady companions indeed.
Here's Silvia Marcovici playing the third movement on YouTube.
Well it's usually the heavenly slow movement which is the highlight of this piece, and i must admit that it hit a real soft spot this time, but amazingly it was the last movement Molto Moderato E Maestoso [very moderate and majestic] that really hit the spot!, i must admit that in listening to this movement again, that Dumay is very individual, especially in the introduction, maybe a bit to hesitant, and too fussy with intonation, but this is only a small gripe, his violin sings nice and sweet, and he's a very accurate fiddler in the faster sections, he plays somewhat quietly, and maybe a bit too treble of tone, or is it the recording?, there's some very delicate playing from Dumay and Yazaki [3:56-5:09], and the recording is nice and crystal clear to hear both ends of the spectrum, i like Dumay's way with playing the more virtuoso sections [7:19-7:48], and makes me realise how good the same thing is at the start [1:08-1:35], and it's easy to miss out on some of the most wondrous stuff, and in giving it yet another spin, how wonderful the more lyrical and sweet refrains there are [2:33-3:07], and i guess how ultimately it's easy to like and comment on almost everything about the movement, and it's amazing that this Concerto can be played so many different ways, with different a different emphasis, and yet still be a valid interpretation each time, i love the build up to the great forte towards the end [8:47-9:00], it's a tremendous moment that is unleashed big time by the horns and brass [9:01-9:20], now that's the 'majestic' part of the title, the whole thing is cast in the key of B Minor, a nice dark key, that has as it's bedfellows Dvorak's Cello Concerto, Schubert's Eighth, and Tchaikovsky's Sixth, heady companions indeed.
Here's Silvia Marcovici playing the third movement on YouTube.
