Menuhin plays Schumann Violin Concerto 1rst mvt Part 1

[Nibelungenherr1876]

Not long after this work Schumann was sent to mental asylum. This work could be seen as suffering man's last triumph.

[alvinumberto]

I think that it was the first recorded performance of the violin concerto. New York Philharmonic , conductor Sir John Barbirolli ?

[petrof4056]

@alvinumberto Yes, Sir John Barbirolli, New York Philharmonic orchestra. No, this is the second first recording of Schumann's violin concerto. The very first performance is Kulenkampff's performance with Hans Schmidt-Issersted and the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1937

[totaldynamix]

It was not long ago that I came across this fascinating history of the battle between two political sides as to which would premiere the piece. How different from everything Schumann wrote earlier. The slow movement quite tears me apart. What a gem they have found. It seems to me, the losing side was acclaimed the better version!

[82224561]

First time I heard this concerto it was by Kulenkapff!

I like here some more clarity to the articulations,more energy,panach...

poicpi

[eusebium7]

Vapidness in late Schumann? Never...he was the purest of composers, never producing 'empty vapidity'...most people who say this haven't heard many late works by this composer, but there is nothing vapid whatever in the 3rd symphony, the manfred music, the cello concerto, the violin sonatas, the Goethe lieder (the Wilhelm Meister settings) or the Morning Songs. Perhaps the flaw, if there was one, was in some of the 1852-3 works where at times the ideas do not develop as organically as before.

[eusebium7]

@eusebium7

Still vapidity is not a word I would use to describe these works.

As far as chills are concerned, few composers have fought such a tragic fate and expressed this struggle in music so eloquently...if you don't believe me, listen to the slow movements of the 1st piano trio or the 2nd symphony, or the Prophet Bird, or the late Goether lieder op.98, or the songs 'Warnung' or 'Melancholie'. Or indeed the slow movt of this concerto.

As far as this performance is concerned, I love it

[eusebium7]

@eusebium7

I prefer the crisp basic tempo that Barbirolli takes, too many take such a flabby tempo that the suspicion tends to nag that perhaps Joachim was right

Crisp tempi in the outer movements is essential, and then a true langsam in the middle, allowing for melting innigkeit and a pure gesangvoll quality

[wolfgango1991]

Wonderful! I love Menuhin, Schumann and his violin concerto! :D

[oelte]

I don't like Bar-Be-Rolly either! He doesn't let the lines be as subtle as they are (actually on paper) when the violin moves under, around and on top of them. And when there's a movement that needs to be supported, again THEN he's subtle and it's NOT supported. I just get tired of these hot shots, OK. And I'm sure Menuhin is listening and would really love a chance to slide around with more-at-ease: being it's not his best thing! It doesn't sound like Schuman's bin took the Hair Dresser either!

[damesally]

Menuhin's playing is marvellous but the New York Philharmonic and Barbirolli are just as important. They make the orchestral contribution just as compelling and are much more tender than Dorati with the LSO and Szeryng( good as that is) . Some performances the accompaniment is so dull you just want to get to the soloist . Kulenkampff is ruled out for me by the butchering of the score.

[kwakos22]

Magnificent!

We can't say anything else!

[jatriggs]

As I understand it, Kulenkampff played a version with the violin part "corrected" by Paul Hindemith for the German premiere (in the Nazi period by the way). Menuhin played the American premiere using Schumann's version.

[oelte]

I think, if you listen to the second theme

(which Even Menuhin hurries over trying to make it sound like a violinst thrill)

And hear the true contrast with the defiant opening theme

Or you listen to the second movement

It's deep sadness and gentleness of true willingness, and how this cascades into the cascading tumbling joy of the finale,

You might ask yourself why Schumann was of such an emotional openness that he couldn't be of this world, and instead of being accepted, was considered crazy!

[sonarrat]

This is such a bizarre piece. Compare it to the Piano Concerto - what a completely different composer Schumann has become by 1853. There is an almost cosmic emptiness in his music of this period, you can feel it in the Gesange der Fruhe for piano as well. Between that and the history of the work, which is something out of a Stephen King novel, this is one concerto that chills me to the bone every time I hear it.

[aintyourlilac]

Schumann can chill you to the bones? You must live in a pretty warm climate.

[telephilia]

Admitting the general vapidness of late Schumann compared to his earlier output, there is still much warmth and beauty in this Concerto. "Chills" is not exactly a word that comes to mind in such a romantic composer as Schumann, early or late.

[crazy77town]

@sonarrat beautifull analysis! I'ld just like to add that since he would leave Leipzig in 1845 he would be never the same person again with definitely different inspiration and maybe a little less than in the past. Neither in Dresden nor in Dusseldorf were he finally located was happy and his spiritual illness was becoming worse!!

Finally, I want to underline the fact that this concerto was written in less than a month 3 months before his suicide attemption! In here, we can listen his feelings

[DHcello]

in schumann violin concerto, best verison is Menuhin.Kulenkampff.Szeryng and gidon kremer!

[ClassicalMusicReview]

To start with...in comparision to the Kulenkampff this conducting is more colorfully attentive to episodic variation and dimension AND right from the first note the orchestra doesn't play polite tepidity like dish rags...but rather they exhibit much more verve and personal conviction in so many ways that the orchestra in the Kulenkampff recording doesn't.

[caijpp]

I think this version is more Schumann than Kulenkampff's. User Kievest has said the reasons.

[ClassicalMusicReview]

Dear Joyce,Schumann and his state of mind was a fleeting abstract even during his life.Therefore what is Shumann or not is incredibly obtuse.You have interesting insights that make connections between realms.Why don't you share some of that with us?

[caijpp]

Dear Smith, to tell you the truth, I have absolutely no connections between realms. I only live in this bloody reality. You see, I can smell blood, and that's how I can feel Schumann. I'm not a ghost hunter. I only search for his decays.

Why all of a sudden turn against me? Why don't you share some of your theories with us? I'll make people worship you more.

[ClassicalMusicReview]

My dear Joyce,It is you who should be worshipped.A turn? Oh...it's the theoretical decaying blood.

[ClassicalMusicReview]

Dear Joyce,You are absolutely correct.While we can't know what(and shouldn't value either) what was fleeting in Schumann's mind it is safe to say that this far better typifies recordings made by artists of every instrument that were born in Schumann's era.

The Kulenkampff is a mockery of romantic performance practice as it substitutes mono-dimensional Arte-Deco objectivity for personal view and passionate conviction.

[Kievest]

Robert Schumann had the purist

Romantic voice. In his music, we

hear a man struggling with his demons,

crying for help and clinging to the hope

of an answer. A moving human document

of a brilliant but troubled life. His was

a generous spirit that nurtured, rediscovered and was not threatened by

the genius of other artists.

[petrof4056]

I think this one is very american and Kulenkampff's version is very germanic. Kulenkampff: 1937; Berlin/ Menuhin: 1938; New York City

[ClassicalMusicReview]

Dear Petroff,I really don't know why this recording is particularly 'American'.It's a reasonably dimensioned performance that one could find(or not-like the Kulenkampff)in many countries with many conductors.

Conversely one may easily find inarticulate sterility all over the classical music globe.There is nothing especially 'Germanic' about that.