Joseph Szigeti - Beethoven Violin Concerto, Beethoven Violin Concerto, Tartini Concerto in E, Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 2

Rating:
Summary: Painful Prokofiev
Review: I was very disappointed by this DVD. The Prokofiev Sonata op. 94 is probably my favorite classical piece ever, and this rendition is painful to watch at times. The first movment's phrasing and playing in general feels awkward and labored. The 2nd and 3rd movements are decent, though not the best I've heard. The last movement is probably the worst. At many times, the technique seems strained and there are multiple mistake (at one point, he even stops playing for a moment). I realize this was probably recorded live without editing, but I expected more from a supposed master (I can listen to myself play the piece with mistakes for free!).

In all honesty, many recordings contain a mistake or two, but I usually can over look them (or don't really even notice them) in light of the performer's excellent musicality. I could have overlooked a few of the mistakes if Szigeti had played the piece with easy and grace. Instead, it sounds (and looks) like he was working really hard just to make the notes. For me, the ultimate test of whether a performance is good is whether it is captivating or not. On many other violin DVDs I own, I watch them perform and it's hypnotic. On Szigeti's Prokofiev, I was too busy worrying that he would mess up to be entranced...

I have focused my review on the Prokofiev because I bought the DVD exclusively for that piece. The other pieces seem good enough to me. I'm not particularly familiar with the other pieces, so if there are similarly problems, I'm not as aware of them as on the Prokofiev.

I wouldn't really recommend this DVD (at least for the Prokofiev). This was more expensive than most other violin DVDs, and the quality of playing seems to be the lowest of any I've heard.

Rating:
Summary: He is Visually Enthralling too
Review: Rightly or wrongly, people call him as the scholar of the violinists partly perhaps because of his association with Bartok and Schnabel. Well, the fact remains, people particularly the violinists like Milstein, but they love Szigeti.

Why? Just take for instance how considerate he was, when on one occasion Martha Argerich was to accompany him the world famous violinist when she was hardly known in the musical world at all...

Alternatively, you just have to watch this video and you can readily tell Szigeti is the musician of the topmost rank: the strong emotive import of the music has almost turned the form and structure of music to the boiling point and his devotion to music and involvement in the performance is absolute so that labelling him "scholastic" is hardly satisfacory.

Another selling point would be the intriguing repertoire. It's difficult to find a better Tartini, and almost impossible to get a better Hubay Czardas even from the CDs and one doesn't come across such beautiful music very often. His Beethoven is blended with sensibility and nobility and beauty all at the same time. And one is apt to find himself shattered by the second and third movements of his Prokofiev. And it's also a delight to be able to see Arther Balsam in action after listening so many of his CDs...

Furthermore, the Canadian radio Orchestra here is doing a great job for the recorded sound as a whole is so much better Chicago Symphony Orchestra which accompanied Milstein at about the same time and the intriguing tone of the soloist violin is distinctly (head and shoulder) better, so warm and tender. It's such a joy even after one turns back to it a second in a breath.