Comments

I like Kremer's Mozart too Buri. I also think a lot of Oistrakh's Mozart that I've heard. I wouldn't have thought that this would be so. I used to like Grumiaux best but last time I listened I liked Oistrakh better. I was discussing this with a music lover, originally from East Germany (one of the ones that got over the wall, got shot -so he said - and survived the wounds)a couple of years ago and his eyes nearly fell out of his head when I said that I liked the Russian's Mozart. "No!!" he said, looking at me like I was a classical music infidel. Greetings,
Jon, I`ve concluded you just have to compartmentalize. What I mena by this is for example in the cas eof the Bach Double, one of the greta reocrdings of all time is Oistrakh and his son. An awesome punch in the guts. But if I then lsiten to Manze and Podger I feel it has many times the light energy and vitality and is so much more refreshing. I go back to the Oistrakh and can`t stand it, listen to it a few times and go back to `yep, this is what truly glorious violin playing is about` mode. It`s kind of weird.
Cheers,
Buri Yes, well that's art I guess. Drives scientists up the wall. I forgot to add I like that Podger and Manze Bach double sometimes too. Or dark bubble as I've heard it called :-) What really happened is that within the last five years, Mozart's spirit has changed his mind, thereby changing composer intent and that has led to pieces formerly tasteless now becoming tasteful as they now match composer intent when they didn't 5 years ago ;-) "Kremer does not have `tone.`"

I don't know much about classical music, so can you please explain what you mean by this? I don't have the particular Kremer recording you mention, but from the Piazzolla and Partita recordings I do have he has an amazing control of timbre, going from a bare whisper of melody played in harmonics, to a sweet, light A/E string passage, to a throaty, brash forte.

Greetings,
Tziganov discusses this contrast between violnist`s with `sound` and those with `tone` in his Way They Play Interview. He is not overly specific but the kind of violnists he refers to as having the latter are Heifetz, Kreisler et al. I assume it means a luish, sensouos sound thta is beautiful for its own sake. Players such as szigeti do not have this quailty. Tziganow also make san interesitng point about Oistrakh- tht he had sound when he was younger and gradually evolved a `tone.`
Kremer`s use of timbre is remarkable but would not, in my opinion qualify as sensuous playign for its own sake. Its interesitnbg that in recent yeras his contemporary group has tried to dispense with the individual player in art by wearing masks during performance.
Cheer,s
Buri I'm glad he wasn't overly specific. I don't think I could have handled that. Greetings,
me too. We could have ended up with something longer than war and Peace,
Cheers,
Buri