Arthur Grumiaux Plays Beethoven & Mendelssohn Violin Concertos (EMI Classic Archive)

Rating:
Summary: Yes, I'm a Bit Disappointed.
Review: The picture of Mendelssohn is deplorable. The film is not well preserved. We have what in photography is known as colour separation, with the background coming up to the foreground, and with a most exaggerated sillouete effect. And at times, the picture is shaking as though it is blacking out, and it happens quite a lot. Otherwise the photography is quite alright. The recorded sound of the violin is slightly below average: but with some effort we could still have a taste of its tone colour. Mendelssohn alone is worthy of all your money, for it is elegant if not poetic. In any event, it reminds us of Yasaye so much. The orchestra is good too, and the recorded sound is somehow better than the violin.

And then we have the bonus of Bloch which is done marvelously so full of colour. The angle of the camera is excellent too giving us almost a full view of both the violinist and the pianist, and almost all their hands.

The photography of the Bach is very clear but quite unacceptable. First, the camera turns around the violinist in 360 degree almost non-stop. What is the point of seeing his back or the back of the violin? Worse still would be the frequent meaningless close-ups. Close-ups of part of the face, and a quarter or 1/5 of the violin when it is moving!! The recorded sound is not nice either. It reminds us of some of the latest recordings of Menuhin which is rather hoarse.

As far as his Beethoven is concerned, well, the orchestra is doing an excellent job by giving all the support and fanfares to the violin. But somehow we don't see the majestic or heroic Beethoven we long to see not even in the last movement. At least I expect some more sensiblity if not freshness. The photography of this piece is quite good though.

The Gitlis part is amazing as well as exciting. But it won't surprise me if some viewers would prefer Isaac Stern instead.

But don't be misled, for I'm a big Grumiaux fan, and more often than not I even prefer him to Oistrakh. And I'm fascinated by his Mozart Sonatas with Haskil and I treasure a lot of his concerti. And as for this DVD, well, it depends. And I have no regrets nonetheless.