COMPOSERS: Brahms,Schumann,Sibelius,Weber
LABELS: EMI Forte
WORKS: Violin Concerto (add one); Quasi una sonata
PERFORMER: Gidon Kremer (violin), Andrei Gavrilov (piano); Philharmonia Orchestra/Riccardo Muti, Berlin PO/Herbert von Karajan
CATALOGUE NO: CZS 5 69334 2 ADD/DDD (1976-82)
Kremer’s studied rendition of the Brahms and rugged playing in the Sibelius will have their devotees, but the second disc, containing the less familiar music, proves more interesting. The posthumous Schumann concerto is an uneven piece but Kremer makes a case for it; the Weber (an unacknowledged arrangement of the original clarinet version) is played with panache, but the more cerebral Hindemith and Schnittke sonatas (with the excellent Gavrilov) make more rewarding listening. Christopher Fifield