Francescatti does it again..
Sam | California, USA | 06/09/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a great album. Francescatti does it again, with awesome deliverance of Paganini music.
The Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 was awesome, like always. This recording is with piano accompaniment with Artur Balsam, who also does excellent. If you've heard the original recording of this with Francescatti and Ormandy (with orchestra), Francescatti plays almost the same way. Since this is a live recording of a Library of Congress recital, you hear coughing but it's not too distracting. Now, for the flaws: you have to first acknowledge that this is live. Francescatti has, in my opinion, a lot of false notes. A lot doesn't mean intonation problems in every other measure, but for a great violinist like Francescatti, I consider it to be a lot. I would say that there were about four or five big mistakes in the first movement, but seems like he warmed up in the second and third movements. The second movement was beautiful and the third movement was almost perfect.
The Carnival of Venice was brilliant. I think that it was a little different than the version that Salvatore Accardo played on the "Accardo plays Paganini: Complete" album from Deutsche Grammaphon. Nevertheless, it was played almost flawlessly. Francescatti starts the beginning a little faster than how Accardo started it, but I thought the the tempo Francescatti played in (just the introduction) was better than Accardo's. Accardo takes a bit too slow.
The Paganini Caprices, all arranged for violin and piano, were all executed very well. They were all almost perfect too. As a bonus to this album, the Paganini Caprice #17 was included. Francescatti never recorded the #17 before so it was a nice little treat in the album. Personally, I frown upon piano accompany arrangements for the Paganini Caprices because they take away its originality, but the caprices in this album were all enjoyable.
Finally, the I palpiti was amazing. It seems that everyone plays different versions of this. Accardo plays his own, Francescatti his own, and others such as Kremer and Vengerov play the Kreisler version. I like the version that Francescatti plays better than Accardo's and Kreisler's. It's much more simple and concise, while it's technically astounding.
I highly recommend this album. It's also great to hear a violin concerto with piano accompaniment. I would give this album 4.5 to 4.75 stars because of some intonation issues in the first few tracks, but since I can't, I'll gladly boost it up and give it 5 stars. As my title says, Francescatti does it again."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1