Nicolai
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844-1908)
Hymn to the Sun from The Golden
Cockerel [4.15]
Oriental Dance [4.35]
Scheherazade – Arab Song [4.31]
Chant Hindou from Sadko [3.24]
Fantasy (on various themes) [9.06]
Antonín DVOŘÁK
(1841-1904)
Songs My Mother Taught Me; Gypsy
Melodies [2.57]
Slavonic Dance No.1 - Op.46 No.2 [3.34]
Slavonic Dance No.2 – Op.72 No.10 [5.08]
Slavonic Dance No.3 – Op.72 No.16 [3.34]
Sonatina Op.100 – Larghetto “Indian
Lament” [4.41]
Humoresque Op.101 No.7 [2.53]
Slavonic Fantasy [5.05]
Symphony No.9 –Largo “Negro Spiritual
Melody” [5.31]
Pyotr Ilyich
TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Scherzo from Souvenir de Hapsal
[4.10]
Humoresque – Deux Morceaux Op.10 No.2
[2.24]
Chant sans paroles from Souvenir de
Hapsal [3.23]
Andante cantabile from String Quartet
No.1 [5.32]
Seventy-six-plus minutes
of transcriptions by Fritz Kreisler
– isn’t that too much of a good thing?
Not necessarily, and especially not
when the programming is so sensible
as it is here, mixing melodic and the
sometimes sentimental and elegiac with
the more obviously
virtuosic. The three composers represented
here, born within a five-year timespan,
had much in common regarding their melodic
gift and – at least in the case of Dvořák
and Tchaikovsky – melancholy, not unlike
Kreisler’s own in the many nostalgic
Viennese
pieces he composed. Dvořák’s Slavonic
Dance No. 2, for instance, could
just as well have been written by Kreisler.
The programme is performed
by the young German violinist Nicolas
Koeckert, accompanied by Ukrainian born
pianist Milana Chernyavska. Koeckert’s
musical CV is an impressive read with
several top-prizes in sundry competitions.
The name Koeckert possibly also rings
a bell for older collectors and concert-goers.
Legendary Rudolf Koeckert (b. 1913)
founded his own string quartet in 1939,
which worked for many years, at least
well into the 1970s when his son Joachim
also joined it. The quartet recorded
extensively; among many other things
they made a complete Beethoven cycle
for DG in the 1950s. Rudolf Koeckert
also had a career as a solo violinist.
Although the booklet text doesn’t explicitly
say so I suspect that Nicolas (b. 1979)
is the third generation in this family
of violinists.
And he is undoubtedly
a gifted player, technically assured
with fine warm tone and careful over
his phrasing. And the pianist, although
she plays a secondary role in a recital
of this kind, is sensitive and flexible.
She is delicious in Songs my mother
taught me (track 3), to mention
just one instance. Of course it is risky
for a young player, however accomplished,
to take on repertoire so closely associated
with a personality like Kreisler, so
immediately recognizable and whose playing
has been the norm for generations of
listeners. However, generally speaking
he is very successful and he follows
the traditions of the master in stressing
charm, lyrical qualities, lightness
of touch while there is no lack of momentum
in the livelier pieces. Once or twice
one can feel a more mechanical delivery.
Dvořák’s
famous Humoresque sounds
rushed and unnecessarily jaunty, compared
to Kreisler’s own more relaxed, more
fluently elegant view, but the concluding
double stops are finely executed. That
said I may well be over-sensitive in
this repertoire: these pieces were my
father’s favourites and. Kreisler’s
rendering of them has, for more than
fifty years, been etched into my musical
memory.
This kind of "light"
music sometimes tends to be over-sophisticated,
over-interpreted in the hands of "serious"
musicians wanting to make their point.
Nicolas Koeckert avoids that by being
utterly natural, letting the music speak
for itself and not trying to use it
as a self-display vehicle. It is very
easy to like this disc, not least for
the opportunity to hear pieces that
are not often performed or recorded.
Even Kreisler did not record all of
them – and there are certainly gems
here:
The Negro Spiritual
Melody is the cor anglais theme
from the Largo of the New World Symphony,
a melody that has acquired the status
of folk-song, sung on an old EP in my
early collection by Poul Robeson as
"Goin’ Home". It is played
here with restraint and all the light
and shade needed, a beautiful interpretation,
while Tchaikovsky’s Scherzo (track
4), a new acquaintance - a kind of Perpetuum
mobile with a melodious and somewhat
sad mid-section - shows Koeckert as
a more outgoing fiddler, enjoying himself
greatly. Dvořák’s Slavonic
Dances are also charming, originally
written for piano duo but known mainly
in orchestral garb. Of the more famous
Kreisler settings, Hymn to the Sun
(track 1) and Hindou Song
(track 12) are among the best tracks
and Tchaikovsky’s Andante cantabile,
originally a string quartet movement,
is another highlight.
Maybe the last ounce
of personality is missing; maybe also,
in the end, one can feel that 76 minutes
of small pieces without much in the
way of bold harmonics is a little too
much. It is all so well-behaved and
soft-edged, but that’s more Kreisler’s
fault than that of the artists. In any
event who said that one must listen
to the whole disc in one sitting?
Kreisler’s own recordings
are of course indispensable (see recent
review of his 1936-38 discs), but I
can’t think that anyone wanting this
charming music very well played in excellent
modern sound and at an affordable price
would be disappointed. It will be interesting
to follow Koeckert’s career but on this
evidence he seems well equipped to be
a significant contender in an already
crowded field.
Göran Forsling
see also review
by Jonathan Woolf
Nicolas Koeckert (violin), Milana Chernyavska
(piano) 
