Solo violin suggestions for newbie

The greatest string quartets bar none were the sixteen written by Beethoven at various stages in his life, which have come to be known as his Early, Middle and Late Quartets. There are many great recordings, as you might imagine.

The Quartetto Italiano (on Philips) produce performances of astonishing beauty and virtuosity, recorded in lovely analogue sound in the 1960s and 1970s, and are still available on LP or CD (although you may need to go to Amazon.de to find the LPs).

The Vegh Quartet (on Audivis/Valois) are much less polished than the Italians, with a much ‘gutsier’ (if that is a word) sound. Their LPs disappeared from the catalogues years ago, but the CDs are still in print, although you might have to hunt around a bit to find them.

I have both, and play whichever takes my fancy.

if you like the music and are feeling adventurous, you should try to find a couple of versions for string orchestras. Sandor Vegh (leader of the Vegh Quartet) made a recording of one of the Quartets (I can’t remember which) and the Grosse Fugue with a music school study group in Cornwall, which might still be around if you look hard enough. And Bernstein made an orchestration of Op 131, which he recorded ‘live’ as an adjunct to his Vienna Philharmonic Beethoven Symphony cycle for DGG - that is quite something to hear the 60-odd Vienna string players going at the music en masse.

I had originally meant just one violin as I had heard Isabelle Faust doing the Bach partitas and was looking for some more similar. But now open to all suggestions to widen my appreciation.

So why suggest the same piece of music but 3 different recordings?
I have the Isabelle Faust one.
I notice that a lot of people suggest this piece of music but numerous different versions.
Excuse my ignorance

Because, like all great music, the same piece is capable of many different interpretations. There is no ‘right’ way to play the music - each artist, or group of artists, will bring their own interpretation to what the composer wrote hundreds of years ago. You will only get to what the composer wrote by listening to different, and varied, performances or recordings of the piece in question.

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I really enjoy the Vegh Quartets. On CD in my case. Thank you.

Absolutely. There is a fashion for original instruments and Rachel Podger plays Baroque violin. The sound is different from metal concert strings on a modern instrument. But it all depends on interpretation.

Some older violinists used lots of portamento (sliding from one note to another) and vibrato (shaking arm, fingers or wrist to make the note oscillate). Roby Lakatos who plays classical, jazz and Hungarian/ Romanian Romany music is technically accomplished. But everything he plays sounds similar. But it is good to hear very different recordings even if you prefer a more classical style.

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Lots of classical here, and I am not against it as I listen to a lot of classical. If you want to try other styles/genres you could try something a bit different like say Aly Bain (Scottish fiddler from The Shetlands). You might want to try one of his solo albums but he does play with a wide range of accompanists. There is a TV programme of him playing with Nicola Benedetti.

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There’s not a vast quantity of solo violin music, but after the Bach, I’d echo the suggestion above for the Paganini Caprices. I suspect you’ll recognise No 24 (Rachmaninov wrote a famous set of variations on it) but the whole set is worth a listen IMO, though they’re phenomenally difficult to play. For a very good recording, you might try Alina Abragimova’s recent and highly praised set.

Roger

On a similar theme, I’d recommend the Irish fiddler Martin Hayes. He doesn’t play alone, but the recordings emphasize Hayes, rather than the gentle accompaniment by guitarist Denis Cahill. I enjoy all their discs, but if I had to recommend just one album, it would be Live in Seattle which includes a nearly 30 minute set of dances, including Pachelbel’s Canon at one point, which builds to an astonishing climax.

Roger

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And with Podger, you get some of the best sounding recordings courtesy of Channel Classics. But you also get Historically Informed Practice HIP for short. Her Baroque-style violin will sound different.

Oh - and a vote for Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins. Podger is good on that, as is Jaap Schroder (also HIP).

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An orchestral piece with violin solo, but what a violin!

Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending

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We might say to @Gazza19 that Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins is also known as Bach’s Double Violin Concerto and there are many recordings from Kreisler in 1915, Menuhin, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Isabelle Faust, Kennedy, Julia Fischer.
The violins are accompanied by an orchestra.

Another none classical recomendation. :heart_eyes_cat:

or live version.

I forgot Sam Sweeney, Peter Knight and Jascha Heifetz.

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Could I add David and Igor Oistrach. In a poll of current leading violinists, David Oistrach was given the top spot as the greatest violinist of recent times. He sounds very good to me!

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I’m a bit of a fan of Tasmin Little. Seen her a few times, sadly she has now retired from touring.
Many works worth a listen though.
Brahms, Schubert and the Complete Beethoven Sonatas for Violin & Piano.
Might be a pleasing diversion from all the older recording represented above…

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I would add to this what I think could be the finest recording of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto: Isaac Stern with the NYPO under Bernstein. It also has a wonderful recording of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, which is one of the pieces that turned me on to classical music as a child.

And somewhat randomly, there are recordings of duo recitals by John McCormack and Fritz Kreisler, where Kreisler plays with the piano and McCormack, and also plays his own violin arrangements of popular and art songs, etc. in between McCormack’s songs. Not only are they historical documents of some significance, but the violin playing is incredibly sensitive and lyrical, even in scratchy early recordings.

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Oistrach and his son were wonderful players. David died in 1974 though, so this rather stretches the meaning of ‘current’. We are able to listen to musicians who played from the dawn of the recording industry.

Maxim Vengerov, I heard on the car radio recently.
Joshua Bell
Sarah Chang
Lisa Batiashvili. Last two are younger.

Saw Sweeney live with his ‘The Unfinished Violin’ which was a show about a fiddler who left his instrument unfinished as he went to war. He and Peter Knight are folk musicians. But classical violin music can incorporate folk as in Bartók’s string quartets.