Free mp3 of Friedman playing the Walton

March 17, 2005 at 08:26 AM · Got it. Thank you!

JW

March 17, 2005 at 06:59 PM · I hope you all enjoy this, I've been uploading these files the past few days onto the site. I think this will be a nice tribute to him. To my Knowledge this is one of the only if not only full live recordings of the Walton on the net. There will be more recordings to come on that site including his live performances of the Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata and Vitali Chaccone with Brooks Smith.

Nate

March 17, 2005 at 05:57 PM · who is the conductor & orchestra in this recording...?

March 17, 2005 at 07:02 PM · The Stockholm Philharmonic was the orchestra conducted by Everett Lee. I believe it was made in the late 1970's. The story behind Friedman and this piece is that he actually learned it because one of his students at the time (who is a good friend mine) wanted to work on the concerto. Friedman wanted to be able to teach the piece better by learning it since he hadn't played the Walton Concerto before. We see and hear obviously he did in fact do a little more than just learn the piece in this live recording :)

March 18, 2005 at 04:38 AM · Tsk, tsk, Nate; you post these things on the website, and then fail to apprise us...:)

March 18, 2005 at 05:21 AM · Wow, what a great recording. I love in the first movement about 4 minutes in with those crazy bouncing strokes. He playes them so precisely and clearly. HOw in the world would you go about practicing those?

March 18, 2005 at 07:42 PM · Hi Willie,

Great question. I remember Mr. Friedman practiced the last page of the Saint-Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso right in front of me. He was always practicing when I started with him years back. To answer your question in a nutshell he would practice these passages as he would say often "slowly and articulately". I remember when I studied the last movement of the Wieniawski 2nd concerto with him I had some problems with the spiccato passages in the last movement and he advised me that my problem really had to do with my bowing and got me to practice these passages without the left hand altogether sometimes on open strings. I was surprised to find I had no idea where my bow was supposed to be at any given moment, however after repeating this exercise I began to learn the passages also with my right hand. This helped a great deal.

June 6, 2005 at 07:27 AM · Here's an article written about Friedman that's full of colorful recollections by him. Strangely a website that claims to be "his" erickfriedman.com, gives no indication he's no longer alive.

link

June 6, 2005 at 07:54 AM · Mr. Redrobe (the man behind the official Friedman page) has not of yet decided what to do with that page.

July 3, 2005 at 05:34 AM · Actually Mattias, I believe it's a webdesign company that controls the rights to it, Redrobe set up a few concerts for Friedman in London during the 90's. Friedman didn't have any teaching associates from when I met him in 1994.

July 3, 2005 at 06:22 AM · Yo might be right.

July 3, 2005 at 11:52 AM · I was so thrilled to see another recording of the Walton because it's one of my favorite concertos. Thanks for all of your work Nate! Im not very familiar with Erick Friedman, but I have to say I was a bit disappointed. I thought his playing was a bit too energetic and lacked delicacy. His sound was a bit harsh and there were many places where he wasn't together with the orchestra due to him rushing. The first and third movements were pretty good and quite musical, but the second was just plain sloppy. There was a place in this movement (around 4:30) where he rushed so much that he got about 3 or 4 measures ahead of the orchestra. Then the orchestra came in with their tutti all over the place. I bet the conductor was sweating bullets while conducting this. But at any rate, I think he's a great technical player and I'm sure this was just a bad day for him.

July 6, 2005 at 03:20 PM · David,

I think Friedman was a true artist. I wish you could hear his Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso and Paganini Concerto recordings. He had a wonderful ability to communicate real depth of emotion to the listener.

July 6, 2005 at 05:08 PM · Not nearly as good as Heifetz, but I'm sure he put a lot of work into it.

July 6, 2005 at 05:36 PM · Charlie,

Not even God plays quite as well as Heifetz; so what else is new?

Nate r.,

Wonderful to hear this. Do you know what year it was recorded? Was he still using uncovered gut D&A at the time of this performance?

July 6, 2005 at 06:30 PM · Hi Oliver,

I believe this was recorded in the late 1970's. I think by that time he told me he was using metal strings or wound gut on his Guaneri. I think if you compare some of his early recordings on his Strad to this you hear a little bit of difference in the tone. Probably my most favorite recording of his is the Prokofiev D Major Concerto with the Boston Symphony and Erich Leinsdorf. I hope it's reissued someday on CD.

November 22, 2005 at 04:16 AM · Here are some free MP3s of Friedman playing Bruch VC and Tchaikovsky Valse-Scherzo.

http://music.download.com/3600-5-100614451.html?tag=MDL_Player_More

November 23, 2005 at 07:30 AM · Thanks Violin T, what an amazing artist he was indeed. The playing is absolutely ravishing.

November 24, 2005 at 12:01 AM · It's fascinating to listen to, you almost get the nuts and bolts of the Heifetz style, it is so similar to JH's rendition but lacks the transparent, effortless ease of delivery. I still think Friedman's got the edge over comparable Oistrakh or Galamian students, as Sal says it's gorgeous playing.

November 24, 2005 at 12:10 AM · I actually find Friedman to be quite different from Heifetz in that he could be more spontanious on stage then Heifetz. In this way, I think he is very reminiscent of Milstein with whom he also studied.

November 24, 2005 at 03:57 PM · I know what you're talking about Violin T with Friedman being a tad more spontaneous with his musical ideas. I think once Heifetz found that interpretation he would stick with it. I do hear lots of Heifetz in Friedman's playing though, especially in the vocal approach which is all too rare today. In addition the tremendous commmand of the instrument he had.