COMPOSERS: Accolay,Bériot & Viotti,Rieding,Seitz
LABELS: EMI
ALBUM TITLE: Collection: Concertos from My Childhood
WORKS: Works by Rieding, Seitz, Accolay, Bériot & Viotti
PERFORMER: Itzhak Perlman (violin); Juilliard Orchestra/Lawrence Foster
CATALOGUE NO: CDC 5 56750 2
Itzhak Perlman offers a disc of Concertos from my Childhood – works he mastered as a young player, and whose pedagogical powers usually overshadow their aesthetic qualities. In Perlman’s capable hands, their delicacy and charm shine through, his consummate purity of tone lifting them far above their ‘student’ origins. They are further illuminated by Perlman’s reminiscences in the accompanying notes which conjure up an inspiring picture of the young violinist, Perlman recalling ‘how wonderful it felt to play with the piano accompaniment for the first time’.
Rieding’s Concerto in B minor and Seitz’s Schüler-Konzert, Op. 13/2, orchestrated by Bruce Adolphe, are both bright and songful, the simplicity of the solo parts (which remain entirely in the violin’s first position) demanding exquisite clarity, which Perlman delivers effortlessly. The violin is pleasantly forward throughout the recording, reflecting its domination of the texture; the Juilliard Orchestra, although taking a backseat, provides a warm and meticulously honed foil to Perlman’s virtuosity under the sturdy direction of Lawrence Foster.
Particularly affecting are the breathtaking violinistic fireworks of Viotti’s Concerto No. 22 in A minor, Perlman’s sweetly lyrical tone unfaltering through the ricocheted bowings and bravura trills. His declared hope is that his recording ‘elevates these works to a higher musical level’: he succeeds. Catherine Nelson