Gil Shaham, LSO, Andre Previn – Samuel Barber & Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Violin Concertos (1994)

This sparkling suite for violin and piano came into being when the composer had to adapt his incidental score for a production of Shakespeare’s play to the impending absence of the chamber orchestral. The result is a brilliant piece for violin and piano, which the composer quickly released in a four-movement version. There are other recordings of the chamber orchestra suite in five-movements that duplicate only three of the movements of this version.

Violinist Gil Shaham and pianist André Previn are ideal partners in this brilliant performance. The four movements allow Shaham to show four sides of his violinist’s personality: He skips and plays in carefree fashion in the opening movement, indulges in the grotesquery and parody of the second, gets to play the romantic in the garden scene of the third movement, and dazzles with virtuosity in the final hornpipe.

Previn’s part is more than mere accompaniment; the piano often has a large part of the mood of the music and his contribution is, to use a word already employed here, ideal.

The recording is fine: The instruments are in a reasonable resonant recital context obtained in this 1993 taping in New York’s Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. The good, clear, natural sound was obtained by producer Christian Gansch and Tonmeister Andrew Wedman.

Review by Joseph Stevenson, Allmusic.com

Though the conjunction of Barber and Korngold might not seem pointful, it works splendidly here. The performance of the Barber, warm and rich with the sound close and immediate, brings out above all the work’s bolder side, allowing moments that are not too distant from the world of Hollywood music (no disparagement there) and aptly the Korngold emerges as a central work in that genre. There have been subtler readings of Barber’s lovely concerto, with the soloist not always helped by the close balance, but it is good to have a sharp distinction drawn between the purposeful lyricism of the first movement, marked Allegro, and the tender lyricism of the heavenly Andante. In the moto perpetuo finale Shaham brings out the fun behind the movement’s manic energy, with Previn pointing the Waltonian wit.

In the Korngold, Gil Shaham may not have quite the flair and panache of the dedicatee, Jascha Heifetz, in his incomparable reading, but he is warmer and more committed than Itzhak Perlman in his Pittsburgh recording for EMI, again with Previn conducting. What has emerged again and again in my comparisons is how electric the playing of the LSO is under Previn here, rich and full as well as committed, echoing vintage Previn/LSO recordings of the 1970s. The recording helps, far clearer and more immediate than that for Perlman’s EMI, though on DG the balance of the soloist is markedly closer, if not as exaggeratedly close as with Heifetz. It is true that in his cooler way Perlman finds an extra tenderness in such passages as the entry of the violin in the slow movement, more poignant, if not so open and warm, but Shaham and Previn together consistently bring out the work’s sensuous warmth without making the result soupy. It is striking how Previn as conductor, both for Shaham and Perlman, gives a rhythmic lift to the dashing moto perpetuo of the finale, as in the Barber finale relishing the Waltonian cross-rhythms, where Wallenstein for Heifetz tends to make it a mad dash in pursuit of the soloist.

The suite from Korngold’s incidental music to Much ado about nothing, dating from his early precocious period in Vienna, provides a delightful and apt makeweight, with Previn, as pianist, just as understanding and imaginative an accompanist, and Shaham yearningly warm without sentimentality, clean and precise in attack. The four strongly contrasted movements draw on the most open and lyrical side of the composer, again often sensuous in beauty, but with sharply rhythmic contrasts as in the Hornpipe finale. Anthony Burton’s ideally helpful note explains how the young Korngold arranged the original chamber setting for violin and piano, when the run of the original Shakespeare production was extended, and the orchestra was no longer available. Korngold himself played the piano, which helps to explain how unlike an arrangement this sounds.’

Review by Edward Greenfield, Gramophone Magazine

Gil Shaham, violin
London Symphony Orchestra (1-6)
André Previn, conductor (1-6), piano (7-10)

Recordings:
London, Henry Wood Hall, 6/1993 (Concertos)
New York, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 12/1993

Tracklist:

Samuel Barber (1910-1981)

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14
01. I. Allegro (10:13)
02. II. Andante (8:49)
03. III. Presto in moto perpetuo (3:55)

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957)

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 35
04. I. Moderato nobile (9:03)
05. II. Romance: Andante (8:42)
06. III. Finale: Allegro assai vivace (7:28)

Much Ado About Nothing – Incidental Music
07. I. The Maiden in the Bridal Chamber (3:11)
08. II. Dogbery and Verges. March of the Watch (2:13)
09. III. Scene in the Garden (5:35)
10. IV. Masquerade, Hornpipe (2:01)

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009

EAC extraction logfile from 14. November 2009, 23:27

Gil Shaham (violin), London Symphony Orchestra, Andre Previn / Barber & Korngold – Violin Concertos

Used drive : BENQ DVD DD DW1620 Adapter: 1 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 618
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:Program FilesFlacflac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T “artist=%a” -T “title=%t” -T “album=%g” -T “date=%y” -T “tracknumber=%n” -T “genre=%m” -T “comment=EAC v0.99pb5 Secure mode / FLAC -8” %s

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.33 | 10:13.00 | 33 | 46007
2 | 10:13.33 | 8:49.00 | 46008 | 85682
3 | 19:02.33 | 3:55.00 | 85683 | 103307
4 | 22:57.33 | 9:03.00 | 103308 | 144032
5 | 32:00.33 | 8:42.00 | 144033 | 183182
6 | 40:42.33 | 7:28.00 | 183183 | 216782
7 | 48:10.33 | 3:11.00 | 216783 | 231107
8 | 51:21.33 | 2:13.00 | 231108 | 241082
9 | 53:34.33 | 5:35.00 | 241083 | 266207
10 | 59:09.33 | 2:01.00 | 266208 | 275282

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename D:YasminBarber & Korngold – Violin Concertos (1994) [FLAC] {Gil Shaham, LSO, Previn} (TQMP)Barber & Korngold – Violin Concertos.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 22C8C71A
Copy CRC 22C8C71A
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 11) [FCFE9EE8]
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 11) [6923AE7B]
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 11) [6F3F135B]
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 11) [BF3DEF11]
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 11) [B5C25424]
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 11) [9B463C46]
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 11) [F755759D]
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 11) [8089F581]
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 11) [77FD5D2D]
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 11) [CCA84218]

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

[CUETools log; Date: 17.08.2017 1:19:25; Version: 2.1.4]
Pregap length 00:00:33.
[CTDB TOCID: RDRh28YT2aNUzaD6QDQQ9DUBVK8-] found.
Track | CTDB Status
1 | ( 99/102) Accurately ripped
2 | ( 99/102) Accurately ripped
3 | ( 98/102) Accurately ripped
4 | (101/102) Accurately ripped
5 | ( 98/102) Accurately ripped
6 | ( 96/102) Accurately ripped
7 | ( 98/102) Accurately ripped
8 | ( 99/102) Accurately ripped
9 | ( 98/102) Accurately ripped
10 | ( 99/102) Accurately ripped
[AccurateRip ID: 001b5ac9-00d2b106-850e560a] found.
Track [ CRC | V2 ] Status
01 [fcfe9ee8|6dfba144] (024+052/110) Accurately ripped
02 [6923ae7b|08c9bb98] (024+052/110) Accurately ripped
03 [6f3f135b|74addef5] (024+052/110) Accurately ripped
04 [bf3def11|d4205c04] (023+053/112) Accurately ripped
05 [b5c25424|e8f632c6] (023+053/110) Accurately ripped
06 [9b463c46|309e6e63] (023+053/111) Accurately ripped
07 [f755759d|57283d86] (023+051/111) Accurately ripped
08 [8089f581|4a12af5b] (023+050/110) Accurately ripped
09 [77fd5d2d|313ff09e] (023+052/112) Accurately ripped
10 [cca84218|7af1b45b] (023+051/111) Accurately ripped
Offsetted by -1331:
01 [2a6645bd] (003/110) Accurately ripped
02 [c8b9a669] (003/110) Accurately ripped
03 [52f93c21] (003/110) Accurately ripped
04 [378793ea] (003/112) Accurately ripped
05 [21b970cf] (003/110) Accurately ripped
06 [3ec1cffd] (003/111) Accurately ripped
07 [904839ab] (003/111) Accurately ripped
08 [67611943] (003/110) Accurately ripped
09 [83e61242] (003/112) Accurately ripped
10 [0a37231e] (003/111) Accurately ripped
Offsetted by -667:
01 [c1024e54] (007/110) Accurately ripped
02 [8707f4cf] (007/110) Accurately ripped
03 [3f356efc] (007/110) Accurately ripped
04 [7512c191] (007/112) Accurately ripped
05 [dfb52e35] (007/110) Accurately ripped
06 [c03be4b0] (007/111) Accurately ripped
07 [0559f3a4] (007/111) Accurately ripped
08 [3cd03580] (007/110) Accurately ripped
09 [1ee46222] (007/112) Accurately ripped
10 [e995b6e0] (007/111) Accurately ripped
Offsetted by -1334:
01 [b7b90da7] (000/110) No match (V2 was not tested)
02 [d8b09506] (000/110) No match (V2 was not tested)
03 [e6a6524b] (000/110) No match (V2 was not tested)
04 [a42db9b1] (000/112) No match (V2 was not tested)
05 [1186c535] (000/110) No match (V2 was not tested)
06 [dd03a827] (000/111) No match (V2 was not tested)
07 [0a4d42ce] (000/111) No match (V2 was not tested)
08 [c06dcfe2] (000/110) No match (V2 was not tested)
09 [fae62292] (000/112) No match (V2 was not tested)
10 [44ce3e27] (000/111) No match (V2 was not tested)
Offsetted by -1307:
01 [2c0da7f1] (000/110) No match (V2 was not tested)
02 [d2971fac] (000/110) No match (V2 was not tested)
03 [2e652f5e] (000/110) No match (V2 was not tested)
04 [ebdec1aa] (000/112) No match (V2 was not tested)
05 [7d298f8e] (000/110) No match (V2 was not tested)
06 [7c3a2e9a] (000/111) No match (V2 was not tested)
07 [1fa8cd10] (000/111) No match (V2 was not tested)
08 [b10fd1f4] (000/110) No match (V2 was not tested)
09 [0a7e4740] (000/112) No match (V2 was not tested)
10 [3d904cc2] (000/111) No match (V2 was not tested)

Track Peak [ CRC32 ] [W/O NULL] [ LOG ]
– 99,9 [22C8C71A] [5094AABA] CRC32
01 99,9 [B5C659A9] [C9929359]
02 89,9 [062913F1] [004ABB0C]
03 99,2 [33A8834A] [01A9422A]
04 99,9 [E528EB70] [60D806DE]
05 99,9 [8C245B3D] [A15012E9]
06 99,9 [88C7BF1C] [E0544D17]
07 52,6 [D4AB41A7] [8AFA3B1B]
08 66,5 [D10369C4] [09F100FC]
09 48,3 [955E5500] [15A24ED8]
10 53,0 [3D24238C] [7D344CC4]

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2017-08-17 01:21:17

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Gil Shaham (violin), London Symphony Orchestra, Andre Previn / Barber & Korngold – Violin Concertos
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR15 0.00 dB -20.45 dB 10:13 01-Barber, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14 – I. Allegro
DR13 -0.92 dB -20.23 dB 8:49 02-II. Andante
DR15 -0.07 dB -20.13 dB 3:55 03-III. Presto in moto perpetuo
DR14 0.00 dB -19.34 dB 9:03 04-Korngold, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 35 – I. Moderato nobile
DR16 0.00 dB -22.42 dB 8:42 05-II. Romance: Andante
DR14 0.00 dB -18.69 dB 7:28 06-III. Finale: Allegro assai vivace
DR12 -5.58 dB -26.03 dB 3:11 07-Korngold, Much Ado About Nothing – I. The Maiden in the Bridal Chamber
DR15 -3.54 dB -23.19 dB 2:13 08-II. Dogbery and Verges. March of the Watch
DR13 -6.31 dB -26.62 dB 5:35 09-III. Scene in the Garden
DR14 -5.50 dB -23.31 dB 2:01 10-IV. Masquerade, Hornpipe
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 10
Official DR value: DR14

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 654 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

DOWNLOAD LINK