Kremer Schubert

Gidon Kremer and Valery Afanassiev enter a hotly contested area with this new release of works for violin and piano by Schubert, and they emerge as clear leaders in the field. All of their rivals do, of course, offer fine, if not always totally sympathetic accounts of these works, but with the exception of Isaac Stern and Daniel Barenboim, none can approach the Russian duo in terms of their stylistic awareness and affinity with the hidden aspects of the Schubertian genre.

The two sets of dances are charming products of Schubert's mid-teenage years and provide Gidon Kremer with much food for musical thought. Whereas a lesser artist might settle for charm and no more, Kremer locates those occasional corners where bodeful intimations lie dormant: witness the darkening cadences at the close of the Sixth German Dance or the third (D minor) Minuet's pensive outer sections. His solo playing has a fine-spun, slightly husky quality, spot-on the centre of the note and with constantly shifting nuances.

As a tireless champion of new interpretations of the old, the ever-adventurous Gidon Kremer has over the years forged a lasting relationship with, above most others, the music of Franz Schubert. One can only imagine, then, the excitement he must have felt when he learned of composer Victor Kissine’s having finished a string orchestral version of Schubert’s G-major String Quartet (op. posth. 161, D 887).

For collectors of recordings by Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer, this 10-disc set called Historical Russian Archives will be just the thing to fill the stray gaps in his discography. Recorded between 1967 and 1992, the sound here ranges from the acceptable to the outstanding, and featuring works from Bach's Chaconne to Salmanov's Second Violin Sonata, the repertoire ranges from the extremely well known to the almost unknown…

Gidon Kremer's technical brilliance, inward but passionate playing, and commitment to both new works and new interpretations of old works have made him one of the most respected violinists in the world today.

These pieces are remembrances of some Gidon Kremer’s passings in Prague, during Soviet time… Kremer was then at the dawn of his career, one among the most brilliant for a violinist in our time! As an ‘ambassador’ of the Soviet Ministry for Culture in the ‘brother countries’, he owed to his mentor, David Oistrakh, a sort of freedom, demonstrated here in this recording. His absolutely perfect touch and his freedom of expression were the delight of his patrons in the welcoming communist countries… The short piece by Alfred Schnittke, then still hand written only, was an example of his wish to play scores out of the ‘classics’ from Bach to Stravinsky and to help other musicians through chamber music sessions. This record allows to hear the faked G.B. Guadagnini inherited from his grandfather.

Kent Nagano and the Hallé continue to commit to CD less celebrated portions of the Britten canon. Last year there was the four-act Billy Budd; before that the premiere recording of a concert version of the radio drama The Rescue. Now come two more firsts, recordings of the Double Concerto - prepared from Britten's almost complete sketches by Colin Matthews and presented by Nagano at Aldeburgh in 1997 - and the Two Portraits from 1930. The second of these is a portrait of Britten himself, a surprisingly plaintive and reflective meditation for viola and strings in E minor. The image is belied by the rest of the music on the disc, which is buoyant, energetic, young man's music all written before Britten was 26. Big guns Kremer and Bashmet are brought in for the Double Concerto and give of their impassioned best. Nagano and the Hallé are appropriately spirited and vigorous throughout the disc. It's not mature Britten, but clearly points the way forward and is worth getting to know.

Kremer made this recording in 1984 and it is an extraordinary recital, mostly of contemporary pieces for solo violin meant as homages to Paganini and especially his famous 24th Caprice. Milstein's Paganiniana is only an appetizer, a fine set of variations but quite conventional in outlook. On the other hand Rochberg's Caprice Variations (of which Kremer plays only a selection of 24, in a rearranged order, out of its 50 total, the 51st being a short statement of Paganini's 24th) is an extraordinary catalog of wild contemporary violin sounds, colors and effects put at the service of a spellbinding imagination.