Release Date: 31 January 2003
Label: Naxos - Historical / Naxos Historical
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 3
Barcode: 636943196922
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: BEETHOVEN
Description
Great Violinists • Fritz KreislerBeethoven: Complete Violin SonatasThe idea of presenting a complete cycle of Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas in the concert hall did not occur to violinists of the nineteenth century. Their recital programmes were arranged for the maximum of contrast and variety, with carefully chosen opening and closing pieces for each half, and would never include more than one sonata. If it was a Beethoven sonata, nine times out of ten it would be the Kreutzer. Early in the twentieth century some of the more serious artists began to rebel against this kind of programming. The pianist Artur Schnabel performed sonata cycles with such violinists as Carl Flesch and Bronislaw Huberman. The violinist Adolf Busch gave cycles first with his brother Fritz and then with his future son-in-law Rudolf Serkin; indeed, from 1929 the Busch/Serkin duo played all their sonata repertoire from memory. In the 1930s such fine duos as the Belgian pairing of Alfred Dubois and Marcel Maas, and the Polish/Hungarian combination of Szymon Goldberg and Lili Kraus, came to the fore. By then some excellent recordings of individual sonatas were available, including one of the ‘little G major’, Op. 30 No. 3, by the starry duo of Fritz Kreisler and Sergey Rachmaninov. The idea of getting Kreisler to record a complete cycle came from Fred Gaisberg, the American-born recording pioneer who invented the profession of record producer, and has not yet been equalled in the rôle. The London-based Gaisberg, who decided the recording policy of His Master’s Voice and its affiliates worldwide, worshipped the ground Kreisler walked on and was always trying to get him into the studio. By 1934 HMV had hit on the idea of ‘Society’ issues: for large-scale projects, subscriptions were sought and record buyers who were interested became members of a society formed specially for that particular project. The twelve-inch 78rpm records were supplied in handsome albums and Gaisberg calculated that four volumes would be required for the Beethoven Violin Sonatas. Finding a pianist would be a problem, as there was no question of hiring the expensive Rachmaninov, even if his schedule would allow for the necessary number of sessions. But Gaisberg was sure about his choice of violinist. Friedrich ‘Fritz’ Kreisler was born in Vienna on 2nd February 1875, the son of Sigmund Freud’s family physician, and could read music when he was three. His first violin lessons came from his Polish father Salomon, an enthusiastic amateur, and he went on to Jacques Auber, leader of the Ringtheater orchestra. In 1882 he became the youngest student admitted to the Vienna Conservatory, where his violin tutor was the younger Josef Hellmesberger, and made his début at Carlsbad (now Karlovy Vary) with the singer Carlotta Patti, sister of Adelina. At ten he won the Conservatory gold medal, was given a three-quarter-size Amati by friends and transferred to
Tracklisting
Vpo:Bbc So:Lso:Bso:Walter
Vienna Po:Philharmonia
Various
Various
Various
Various
Schwarzkopf
Sammons:
Kreisler/Lamson
Fritz Kreisler
Fritz Kreisler
Fritz Kreisler
Fritz Kreisler
Fritz Kreisler
Rudi Wilfer
