Viktoria Mullova, Sir Neville Marriner - Paganini: Concerto No.1, Vieuxtemps: Concerto No.5 (1989)

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Viktoria Mullova, Sir Neville Marriner - Paganini: Concerto No.1, Vieuxtemps: Concerto No.5 (1989)

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What do you think Paganini, whose unprecedented virtuosity sent the musical world into a frenzy and persuaded the simple-minded that he must be in league with the devil, or indeed his audiences, would have thought had they been able to witness the large number of players, some quite young, who today can reproduce with complete assurance, apparent ease and impeccable intonation all his most dazzling feats—flying scales and arpeggios over the instrument's entire compass, passages in thirds, octaves or tenths, chords, harmonics in thirds, left-hand pizzicatos, rapid archet volant runs, ricochet bowing and wizardry of every kind? Yet such is technical progress; and listening to all the five above-named violinists induces in the listener a sense of awe.
Let us first, however, consider another concerto of mind-boggling pyrotechnics, the Vieuxtemps No. 5, a curiously proportioned one-movement work with a long dramatic Allegro on to which are tacked a short Adagio and a perfunctory fast finish. Neither Lin (CBS) nor van Keulen (Philips) turn a hair at its multifarious terrors; but the former, possibly because of the microphone placing, sounds rather small-toned and bland, and the particularly sweet-sounding latter (backed by better orchestral tone) doesn't sufficiently 'take the stage' and seems too laid-back. But with Mullova—who, we were told, has been playing the work since she was 12 (!)—there is an immediate air of authority: as expected in a work designed for a star player, she dominates the scene, though she is sturdily and alertly sustained by excellent orchestral playing (the opening has an electric dramatic charge), and she brings a level of great intensity to her cantilena in the Adagio.
The recording is of exemplary clarity and balance as it also is in the Paganini concerto. Here the competition is more searching, but the outcome is still remarkable. The Arabesque recording is rather shallow and 'toppy', making Kaplan, for all his brilliance, sound superficial; but Accardo (DG) has rightly been acclaimed by all for the maturity and polish of his performance—warmer and weightier in tone and more spacious in his treatment of expressive passages—though in his case the venue (Barking Town Hall) may have been responsible for slightly less clear orchestral detail. Mullova yields nothing to Accardo in security, stylistic understanding or, when called for, lightness of tone (her final rondo is a joy); and the almost imperious determination of her first entry makes one sit up (and also seems to have fired the timpanist's assertiveness). This is a quite sensational performance, confirming Mullova as one of the most exciting violinists of our day.'

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Viktoria Mullova, Sir Neville Marriner - Paganini: Concerto No.1, Vieuxtemps: Concerto No.5 (1989)

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