Wieniawski: Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2 Itzhak Perlman

• Henryk Wieniawski (1835 - 1880): Violin Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 14:
• 1 I. Allegro moderato 15:23
• 2 II. Preghiera (Larghetto) 05:21
• 3 III. Rondo (Allegro giocoso) 07:13
• Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 22:
• 4 I. Allegro moderato 11:21
• 5 II. Romance (Allegro non troppo) 05:05
• 6 III. Allegro con fuoco - Allegro moderato (à la Zingara) 05:55
• Total Runtime 50:18

Info for Wieniawski: Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2

Henryk Wieniawski’s concertos offer a distinctively Slavonic take on Paganini’s virtuosic innovations. One of the most important violinists of the nineteenth century, he was born in Poland and travelled widely, but became especially influential in Russia.

Superb playing of superb virtuoso music.

"Poor Wieniawski!", Tchaikovsky wrote to their mutual patroness Nadezhda von Meek. "I reckon him very gifted. . . . His charming Legend and a few parts of the D minor concerto give evidence of a serious creative talent". When he died, in Moscow in 1880, not yet 45, one of the great talents of nineteenth-century violin virtuosity was lost; he is the link between the Franco-Belgian school and the modern Russians, who have always followed Tchaikovsky in holding him in great honour. He was the first violin professor at Anton Rubinstein's new Conservatory in St Petersburg in 1862; his assistant was Leopold Auer, who followed some of his methods and was the teacher of Elrnan, Heifetz and Zimbalist. His work and his music are directly connected to a style of violin playing we may still hear on our concert platforms today.

The music, too, could do with an occasional airing. The Second Concerto has not lacked enthusiasts to echo Tchaikovsky's admiration; and it is, indeed, easy to see how the easy lyrical line and the gipsy exuberance of the finale would appeal to Tchaikovsky. The First Concerto, in F sharp minor, earns a dismissive comment in the current edition of Grove, I see, which seems less than fair: the middle movement, a Preghiera, is a dark, intense and very beautiful movement and the finale has a lively kick to it, a sense of joie de vivre and of joy in mastery of the instrument. It is obviously very much the music of the man of whom the young Hubay could write (in a translation of a notice written for a Budapest paper in 1877), "Wieniawski is equally far removed from German sentimentality and Italian exaggerated sweetness of which Paganini himself was not free. Even in moments of highest emotion and ardour he never transgresses elegance of style and noble taste".

The latter sentence could well describe Perlman's glowing performances. Perlman captures the warmth and fervour and brilliance and the more than slight salting of showmanship which are part of what is also a genuine lyrical gift. This is superb playing of superb virtuoso music, well worth attention from many music-lovers to whom Wieniawski can be hardly more than a name. The recording is suitably warm and vivid.“ (Gramophone)

Itzhak Perlman, violin
Samuel Sanders, piano
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Seiji Ozawa, conductor

Digitally remastered

Itzhak Perlman
Born in 1945 in Tel Aviv, Itzhak Perlman began playing the violin when he was so small that all he could hold was a toy fiddle. Although he was disabled by polio at age 4, he played his first recital by age 10. He studied at the Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay and Ivan Galamian and made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1963. He was introduced to a wider American public via multiple appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, including a 1964 episode that also featured the Rolling Stones. After winning the prestigious Leventritt Competition the same year, Perlman went on to a career as a soloist that has seen him appear to acclaim on all the world’s great stages and make hundreds of recordings.

His prize-winning discography not only covers the width and breadth of the great classical violin repertoire; he has also made ventures into Klezmer music and film soundtracks, including the Oscar-winning score to Schindler’s List. He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. Perlman has won four Emmy Awards, including for the 1998 PBS documentary Fiddling for the Future, about the Perlman Music Program and his work as a teacher. Having collaborated with all the world’s major orchestras as a soloist, Perlman has for years performed with many of them as a conductor. A rarity for a classical artist, he has appeared everywhere from Sesame Street to the White House including a performance for the first inaugural of President Obama. In 2000, he was awarded a National Medal of Arts, and in 2003, Perlman earned a Kennedy Center Honor celebrating his distinguished achievements and contributions to the country’s cultural and educational life. He currently holds the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Chair at the Juilliard School.

Booklet for Wieniawski: Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2