Post by sgb December 12, 2005 (11 of 38)
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Beagle said:
In a previous lifetime, I did the artist-thing, but was humbled one autumn day in 1978, outside the big artist-materials store on the edge of Greenwich Village: Hundreds of talented young artists were waiting outside the doors when they opened, and as I watched they swept through like locusts, and cleaned out the store. Suddenly I realised that, given global population growth, there were dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Michelangelos, DaVincis, Galileos duking it out with me.
So, if you ask 'Who is the current Heifetz?', you should rephrase your question: 'Who are the current 3.6 Heifetzes?'. And Heifetz only had to kick his way through circa 1.7 billion competitors, in order to enter your consciousness. May I suggest that ANY violinist you have actually heard of, must therefore be BLOODY DAMNED GOOD, period.
Thanks for making my day, Beagle. I think I shall print out your comments and thumb-tack them to the wall in my office.
Of course, it is within this context that I should remind other readers, that our own preferences are the best for each of us individually. I don't know who this Rieu guy is that you mention later, but I think that it's OK if people make him rich by buying his records. After all, the pseudo intellectuals would have you believe that that daughter of Ravi Shankar (what's her name) is a jazz singer that betters the greats of the past. Equating pabulum with authentic jazz is not my cup of tea, personally, but I can accept that my fellow American music buyers prefer Kenny G to John Coltrane and Liberace to Artur Rubinstein. They may not know art, but they know what they like. That should be sufficient.
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Post by tream December 12, 2005 (12 of 38)
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After all, the pseudo intellectuals would have you believe that that daughter of Ravi Shankar (what's her name) is a jazz singer that betters the greats of the past. Equating pabulum with authentic jazz is not my cup of tea, personally, but I can accept that my fellow American music buyers prefer Kenny G to John Coltrane and Liberace to Artur Rubinstein. They may not know art, but they know what they like. That should be sufficient.
Her name is Norah Jones. She is not a jazz singer, IMHO, and I think getting a bad rap from jazz aficianados because she somehow got lumped into the jazz category (and won a bunch of Grammies, of course, not that a Grammie is any evidence of quality or merit). She's a pop singer-think of her as a Carole King of the 21st century and the merit of what she does becomes clearer. She can actually sing (you might not like the voice, but she can carry a tune, she can harmonize, etc.), she can play an instrument, and compose songs with melodies. These elements differentiate her from many of today's so-called pop musicians, so maybe that's why she was classified as a jazz singer-no one could believe a pop musician could do those things. My wife likes her a lot, so her stuff gets played frequently around my house(then I get to play Bach and Beethoven-can't trade Jones for Mahler, though, at least not yet).
Did you see her duet with Kris Kristofferson on the tribute to Johnny Cash a few weeks back? She exuded a lot of class. By the way, this was a fun show. Despite the fact that it was meant as an extended commercial for "Walk the Line", there were quite a few really good segments. How about Sheryl Crow playing an autoharp and channeling Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette on "Ring of Fire". There were performances by guys who knew Cash -Kristofferson, Jerry Lee Lewis (hard to believe that he is the last survivor of the early Sun days, when it was Johnny Cash, Elvis, Carl Perkins, and Lewis), U2, etc., plus a cool performance of "Get Rhythm" by a C&W duo that I'm not familiar with.
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Post by stvnharr December 12, 2005 (13 of 38)
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Beagle said:
Allow me to correct myself:
Any violinist you have heard of -- with the egregious exception of The Liberace of the Violin, André Rieu. May his face never besmirch the cover of a SACD!
Ah yes, Andre Rieu - PBS's favorite violinist when it comes to the time PBS goes trolling for dollars. I dunno, must work or they wouldn't continue to do it.
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Post by dbp December 12, 2005 (14 of 38)
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I'm amazed no one has even mentioned the names of the two people I would put on the top of this list, especially since they've been doing it for over 20 years: Reinhard Goebel and Monica Huggett. For a while I used to put Andrew Manze up here as well, but he just isn't as consistent as these two. I love Manze... though he is probably my third favorite right now. His recent recording of Biber's Rosary Sonatas is a perfect example... I love Biber, but Manze's performance just isn't inspired. Listen to Goebel's performance of the same work and be prepared to drop your jaw. Goebel was an absolute mad man on the violin during his prime and everything he touched was mind blowing. His sheer virtuosity is untouched. Unfortunately he had a tragic accident and has since learned to play violin left handed (which took him about 10 years before he recorded again) and he just isn't up to his previously glory. Monica Huggett, on the other hand, is still absolutely marvelous and sublime. She understands subtly like no other violinists. I've seen her perform Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin by candlelight, just about 20 feet from her and was almost in tears. The great thing is her and Goebel have quite different styles, and I think each is the best in the world at what they do. I've seen all three of these performers live on multiple occasions, and Huggett is definitely the best to watch and listen to today. Huggett really gets into her performances and is so much fun to watch. Manze looks more like a robot up there and is almost a bit boring to see live. Sadly, Goebel just doesn't have it anymore in a live setting... but get some of those mid-80s recordings and be blown away.
David
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Post by raffells December 12, 2005 (15 of 38)
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tream said:
H., plus a cool performance of "Get Rhythm" by a C&W duo that I'm not familiar with.
Ah yes Ruggiero Ricci and Julias Katchen...I Think it was on decca ....Dave
PS...I never started it....
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raffells said:
Ah yes Ruggiero Ricci and Julias Katchen...I Think it was on decca ....Dave
PS...I never started it....
Well I did, didn't I? Or was it really one of the announcer's on our local 100% Classical Music Station during their recent (sucessful - thank god!) fund drive - I just passed the fun along to you guys. I have enjoyed reading all the responses. I think I will take a minute and, not declare my own preferences, but question those declared by some of you:
1 Why Anne Sophie Mutter who despite having done alot to promote new music with her commissions, has shown very bad taste with slurpy portamento, (portamento that would have probably made Kreisler blush) in places where it just isn't appropriate. I am thinking of her new Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Mozart concerto recordings.
2 Why does Hilary Hahn come to mind?
3 Why does Julia Fischer come to mind?
And why has no one mentioned Tasmin Little? She is seriously underated based on the Classics for Pleasure recordings I have of her. This is not to say she would be my nomination, I just wonder why she is so overlooked?
Finally I agree with Dave that this really is a question that perhaps would better have been never asked, or at least phrased a little differently:
Say, if you could hear the (living) violinist of your choice in your favorite venue in recital whom would you choose? ...and why? ("living" was added about one hour after initial post - maybe I shouldn't have done that, but otherwise it leads to a different thread than I intended.)
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Post by raffells December 12, 2005 (17 of 38)
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Windsurfer said:
Say, if you could hear the violinist of your choice in your favorite venue in recital who would you choose? ...and why?
Paganini In my Living room playing Devils Trill and THAT theme.Just to see how it really should sound....Dave
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raffells said:
Paganini In my Living room playing Devils Trill and THAT theme.Just to see how it really should sound....Dave
As I posted it, I knew I should have changed the wording just a little bit to make sure you knew I mean't living violinists...as opposed to being granted a wish from the Genie in the Bottle.
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Post by Edvin December 12, 2005 (19 of 38)
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Kaja Danczowska
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Windsurfer said:
Well I did, didn't I? Or was it really one of the announcer's on our local 100% Classical Music Station during their recent (sucessful - thank god!) fund drive - I just passed the fun along to you guys. I have enjoyed reading all the responses. I think I will take a minute and, not declare my own preferences, but question those declared by some of you:
1 Why Anne Sophie Mutter who despite having done alot to promote new music with her commissions, has shown very bad taste with slurpy portamento, (portamento that would have probably made Kreisler blush) in places where it just isn't appropriate. I am thinking of her new Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Mozart concerto recordings.
2 Why does Hilary Hahn come to mind?
3 Why does Julia Fischer come to mind?
And why has no one mentioned Tasmin Little? She is seriously underated based on the Classics for Pleasure recordings I have of her. This is not to say she would be my nomination, I just wonder why she is so overlooked?
Finally I agree with Dave that this really is a question that perhaps would better have been never asked, or at least phrased a little differently:
Say, if you could hear the (living) violinist of your choice in your favorite venue in recital whom would you choose? ...and why? ("living" was added about one hour after initial post - maybe I shouldn't have done that, but otherwise it leads to a different thread than I intended.)
I would agree that Little is very good but for some reason, she is out of the "circuit" at the moment (is she having time off for family/health reasons?) and I also am not sure my Hahn is (apart from being American and fairly attractive & therefore good for DG's marketing) so popular. Fischer I imagine is popular because she plays with a real joie-de-vivre (apologies for spelling) and plays with a maturity more commonly associated with that beyond her (few at present) years - a vote in the future rather than the present perhaps.
As to the recital:
Mutter playing (almost) anything she wanted - it's always thought provoking if not entirely in agreement with current fashions, or my taste in interpretation, but I bet that she'd find a piece that I didn't know or bring along a new work for me to get to know - in St. George's Brandon Hill, Bristol (a lovely chamber accoustic).
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