MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

availability
Forgotten Records

Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Violin Concerto in E minor Op.64 (1844) [25:01]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Grand Duo for violin and piano D574 (1817) [17:55]
Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921)
Violin Concerto No.3 Op.61 (1880) [24:32]
Havanaise in E Op.83 (1887) [8:20]
Louis Kaufman (violin)
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra/Otto Ackermann (Mendelssohn) Maurits van der Berg (Saint-Saëns)
Pina Pozzi (piano)
rec. 1950s
FORGOTTEN RECORDS FR406 [75:52]

Experience Classicsonline

It’s always rewarding to encounter Louis Kaufman’s 1950 recordings. These ones came out on Musical Masterpiece Society, and they were later reissued; I’ve got the Mendelssohn Concerto on LP, and the Saint-Saëns on a Pye Ember reissue. I’d not heard the Schubert before, though.
 
Kaufman’s Mendelssohn, with Otto Ackermann and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, is virile and ripe. His characteristic fast impulse vibrato is almost brazenly audible in the close-up recording, and the temperature is Romantic Plus throughout. There are some luscious Kreisleresque slides and so, too, the endemic warmth and communicative élan that Kaufman always generated. I don’t know a single recording of his where his commitment flagged. The fervid tone that illuminates the slow movement is part of his expressive arsenal though it does come at the cost of some phrasal relaxation. The finale is dancing, spry, and not exaggeratedly fast.
 
The other Concerto is Saint-Saëns’ Third, directed this time by Maurits van der Berg. Ackermann is the better known conductor. Van der Berg had been a violinist. His pre-war 78 recordings are worth a listen and show a polished but not especially distinctive performer. He offers decent support to Kaufman, though balance isn’t perfect, something I will put down to microphone placement rather than the conductor. Again this is the kind of work Kaufman took to and he plays with richness and quick slides. It’s a pity orchestral tuttis don’t register as powerfully as they should, but one can hear a swirly echo, so maybe that had something to do with it. He plays the Havanaise dashingly.
 
Schubert’s Duo for violin and piano, also known as a Sonata these days, bisects the concertos. He recorded it with Pina Pozzi, and is, if anything, just too succulent here, with a battery of portamenti and a quivering romanticism - playful and prayerful alike - that tends to over-part the music. Lovely (and luscious) to hear, though.
 
The list of newly-available Kaufman discs extends still further with this faithful transfer.
 
Jonathan Woolf 

Masterwork Index: Mendelssohn's violin concerto

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Error processing SSI file