Comments

A great Shaham PR job it is, Buri. I particularly like the bank robbing part! I’ve got a couple of his DG recordings, including the igeunerweisen, which I do like very much. Time to rush to ArkivMusic for more Shaham now... Greetings,
For those of you who are unsure, an igeunerweisen is a kind of dinosaur.Just the kind of thing Yixi would carry around in her handbag.
Cheers,
Buri LOL! I do carry it in my bag a lot. How did you know? I am glad Shaham played so well. We went to a concert a couple of months ago where he played Mozart Violin Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra. It was the first time I heard him at a live concert. I am afraid we were quite disappointed with his playing and had been thinking his reputation was overrated.

Ihnsouk

I've been looking for his Bruch recording, but we can not find it anywhere. Greetings,
did you leave it in the fridge again?
Cheers,
Buri Buri, since you mentioned some of the old greats, I wonder if Shaham is Heifetz-good, Milstein-good, Kreisler-good, or of above, or just simply Shaham-good? Greetings,
its an interesting question. Basically I think of being this good as standing on your own name. One can make comapirsons between quite specific components of technique IE Milstein had a little more of tehcnique x than Heifetz etc or more generalized x is mor emusicla than y. But the bottom line at this level is that the pieces are all there and each individual`s specialness stands alone to be taken or left.
Cheer,s
Buri I have always thought Shaham was the best of the current crop of violinists, and I agree that his Mozart is excellent. Mozart sonatas are a really good test of a violinist's mettle since they require something other than pyrotechnics. As far as Mozart is concerned, I worship at the altar of Goldberg and Kraus, but I am always glad to hear Shaham play him. I have gone to a number of his concerts and never been disappointed, whether he is playing Mozart, Vivaldi or Prokofiev. Clearly, we were so totally off when we didn't get excited about Shaham's Mozart vc with Philadelphia Orchestra. It may not be about his playing, but he sounded flat (I don't mean in pitch.) and when the Orchestra picked up where he left off I was truely glad.

Ihnsouk

The only time I had the opportunity to see Gil live way when he played Elgar with the Atlanta Symphony this past season. I thought it was astounding. Greetings,
Ihnsouk, I have also been to a less than exciting performance by Mr Shaham. I herad him play a faily flawless mendelssohn that left me cold. But, as you know, so many factors come into play in sustaining an internaitonal career these days. In that particular case Shaham had just flown into Japan (From where?) and wa spaling wiyth a stodgy conducter and a competent youth orchestra that did not have much experience of accompanying. I can`t helpfeeling that sometimes the older dudes could play maybe play ,more consistently because they took time off, traveled more slsowly and so on.
Cheers,
Buri Buri, last a few days I'm listening to Shaham's CDs exclusively. I'm completely memorized by his tone and phrasing. I just saw a new thread asking if the appearance sells the CD, to me, only good reviews do. Thank you and thank you, Buri, for all your wonderful reviews. I actually sat in a bar with Gil Shaham once. He was just around the corner of the main counter. I was just sitting there, he had a drink and when people came by he would introduce himself. I'm a composer and started having an idea for a piece, he could somehow feel this because I settled down into my own world. He breathed a nice deep breath and said something like "well" or "so" or something and that was enough.

When he plays he also just feels this kind of phrasing in time, and he does it with warmth.

It's a crazy piece too. It's for Euphonium, Horn, violin, recorder ensemble, triangle and cowbell.

LOL

I don't go to bars much anymore, haven't for years