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AVAILABILITY  Pristine Audio Direct

Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924) Violin Sonata No.1 in A major Op.13 (1875-77) [21.27] Jascha Heifetz (violin) Emanuel Bay (piano) rec. 1936 PRISTINE AUDIO PACM026 [21.27]

Heifetz may not be everyone’s first choice as a Fauré player. Indeed he may not have been back in 1936. However, his lithe and scintillating spin on the sonata occupies its own warm niche. A writer on the Pristine Audio website stakes a place for it above the Thibaud/Cortot but he drives this reviewer to ire by denigrating the sensuous Gallic charms of the violinist. It’s a pity that Alfred Dubois – Grumiaux’s teacher – was never asked to record it; his Franck and Debussy recordings were wonderful so we have lost out. Fortunately Denise Soriano did record it with Magda Tagliaferro and their recording is special - though not currently available. As a chamber meeting it is superior to the driver-and-coaches balance accorded Heifetz and Bay. I’ve just heard, as I write these words, that Soriano died in March of this year (2006) at the age of ninety. She was a Boucherit pupil and a wonderful player.   Still, what we have is twenty-one minutes of music issued at Pristine Audio’s new pricing structure – see their website for details. Collectors will note that this performance was released on Biddulph LAB065 in transfers by Jon Samuels back in 1992. The coupling was the second Grieg sonata, neatly wrapping up two of Heifetz’s less well known sonata recordings of the 1930s.   Comparison, I have to say, favours the older release. The sound there is a touch noisy with a deal of HMV shellac crackle. The compensations are an airy openness at the top. Heifetz’s tone is caught better throughout its range. Here, as well, the piano accents of Emanuel Bay tend to be submerged in noise reduction and the attaca brio is smoothed out. In the scherzo the razory brilliance of the violinist becomes rather amorphous and the concentration on noise suppression has been to drain colour and detail.   Jonathan Woolf   AVAILABILITY  Pristine Audio Direct     Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage There will be NO VAT Rises [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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