Brahms/Joachim Violin Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Joseph Joachim, Johannes Brahms
Label: Biddulph
Magazine Review Date: 3/1993
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 59
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: LAW003
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(21) Hungarian Dances |
Johannes Brahms, Composer
Aaron Rosand, Violin Hugh Sung, Piano Johannes Brahms, Composer |
Romance |
Joseph Joachim, Composer
Aaron Rosand, Violin Hugh Sung, Piano Joseph Joachim, Composer |
Author: James Methuen-Campbell
As readers will most probably know, the two sets of Brahms's Hungarian Dances were originally scored for piano, four hands. They were published by Simrock in 1869 and 1880 respectively. The celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim, a close friend of the composer, made his arrangements contemporaneously, the second book of 11 pieces even appearing in the same year as Brahms's version.
To some extent the Joachim reworkings are arrangements of arrangements, since Brahms had already fused authentic Hungarian gipsy material with his own. Because much of the original writing was for violin in the first place, Joachim was able to restore a degree of idiomacy almost impossible in the piano version—and he knew what he was doing. In many respects these violin and piano versions are far more convincing than the piano scorings.
Aaron Rosand, an American violinist familiar to those interested in the highways and byways of the nineteenth-century repertoire, plays the dances with incisive immediacy and impeccable taste. Perhaps he could have relaxed a little more in places (there is not much in the way of 'gipsy abandon'), but his strengths of poetic insight, elegance of phrasing and a refusal to overdo the sentimentality are displayed in abundance. The only real drawback to this rewarding and highly enjoyable release is that the piano part, which provides quite a bit of colour and detail, has been suppressed to an almost damaging degree.'
To some extent the Joachim reworkings are arrangements of arrangements, since Brahms had already fused authentic Hungarian gipsy material with his own. Because much of the original writing was for violin in the first place, Joachim was able to restore a degree of idiomacy almost impossible in the piano version—and he knew what he was doing. In many respects these violin and piano versions are far more convincing than the piano scorings.
Aaron Rosand, an American violinist familiar to those interested in the highways and byways of the nineteenth-century repertoire, plays the dances with incisive immediacy and impeccable taste. Perhaps he could have relaxed a little more in places (there is not much in the way of 'gipsy abandon'), but his strengths of poetic insight, elegance of phrasing and a refusal to overdo the sentimentality are displayed in abundance. The only real drawback to this rewarding and highly enjoyable release is that the piano part, which provides quite a bit of colour and detail, has been suppressed to an almost damaging degree.'
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