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These two important
performances date from the years of
Busch’s American exile. The Beethoven
was never issued at the time, the violinist,
perhaps uniquely for one of his breed,
objecting that the recording had placed
him too far forward, a result
of faulty spatial separation (Busch
was asked to stand raised on a box for
the session).
There are tremendous
qualities in the performance to which
I respond with genuine admiration. That
said it would be foolish to pretend
that however moving it is there are
not also a number of deficiencies. Busch’s
broken octaves sound effortful to my
ears and tentative; his intonation is
also not always secure. The sense of
strain that he imparts to the line -
and in this he is aided by his brother
Fritz – is arguably an architectural-expressive
component of his conception, but some
of the passagework is less than ideally
determined. His musical shaping in the
first movement from 10.00 onwards is
marvellously expressive however, even
though I find his subsequent phrasing
(from about 12.00) less convincing.
It is in the Larghetto
that he really illumines the performance;
few can match him for rapt intensity
and concentratedness, inner light. No
one was less likely to skim over the
surface of the music here than Busch.
The finale is not the tidiest of performances
though it’s rugged and full of incidental
interest (and a little bit of orchestral
congestion). But Busch seems to gain
here in elegance and eloquence as the
movement develops and there’s assuredly
much to admire. Busch plays his own
– not entirely successful – cadenzas.
The Beethoven has appeared before. It
was released on a Brüder-Busch-Gesellschaft
LP but its first CD release, I believe,
was via Instituto Discografico Italiano,
a pirate release of the LP, where it
was coupled with the violinist’s 1936
broadcast of the Busoni Concerto with
the Concertgebouw and Bruno Walter –
a must-have. The Biddulph, which comes
from the original source material, is
rather better defined than the Italian
release and there’s less "spread"
to the sound. There’s also a slight
pitch discrepancy between the releases
in the first movement – the IDI release
is very slightly adrift. I have to say
that theirs is not at all a bad transfer
but the Biddulph is sonically better.
Coupled with the Beethoven
is the Bach in a suitably powerful and
human performance. He’s not always technically
precise but the sense of arch and architecture
is total. The Fuga is splendid and the
Largo full of expressive depth whilst
the final movement’s contours and terraced
diminuendos bespeak Busch’s authority
in Bach.
Busch admirers need
the Busoni but unfortunately they will
probably need to invest in this disc,
should they not already have the coupled
Bach. The rewards are palpable.
Jonathan Woolf
Adolf Busch (violin) 
