Franz SCHUBERT
Four Violin Sonatas D384,408, 385 & 574; Fantasie
D934; Arpeggione Sonata
D821
Szymon Goldberg (violin) with
Radu Lupu (piano); Maurice Gendron (cello) with Jean Francaix
(piano)
Decca 466 748-2 [119.24]
Crotchet
Amazon
UK
A complete delight and a nostalgic trip too. Szymon Goldberg's inspiring
and perceptive master classes made an enduring impression at Dartington Summer
School long ago, a year when Stravinsky & Lionel Tertis were amongst
the distinguished visitors. I never forgot him thrusting open the piano lid
and telling the accompanist (Susan Bradshaw, later a well known writer on
Russian music) that its tone should never be boxed by using the short stick;
a violin can cope with the tone of a grand piano and it is for the players
to achieve proper balance.
Schubert's four sonatas were variously published as sonatinas and
duo by Diabelli for commercial reasons, a successful ploy to not frighten
off amateur purchasers. Goldberg has a refined, somewhat thin tone, sparing
with vibrato, and occasionally you hear the bow almost losing contact with
the string. A very personal tone quality, no excess or 'gloss' - Goldberg
would have fitted into the 'authentic' baroque style of today easily. There
is a simplicity in his interpretation which is completely apt for these
unpretentious pieces, which have remained popular with chamber music players
if less often featured in public recitals. I have a particular affection
for the G minor, which I played in competition as a schoolboy, and the A
major, with its expansive first movement, one of Schubert's loveliest. The
25 minute Fantasie has a set of variations on the song Sei mir
gegrusst, delicious! Lupu is the perfect partner always in these 1978
recordings.
The fill-up is a persuasive performance of the Arpeggione sonata (mono,
from 1952) is played in a comparably unaffected manner by the fine French
cellist Maurice Gendron and composer Jean Francaix.
A delectable Double Decca to grace anyone's collection.
Peter Grahame Woolf
