Search - Kreisler, Bruch, Paganini :: Great Violinists Xii

Rare Treasures

T. Parmer | 12/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have had great affection for Kreisler's playing for a long time now, and at one time in my youth was working on finding for myself every recording he had ever made. Scouring through archives, I saw mentioned an elusive recording of the Bruch concerto that had never made it to disc from the original masters. I heard this recording once on Karl Haas' radio show, but at the time, it was not available for the public any other way. Well, here it is! Also included is a recording of the Paganini concerto number one available elsewhere, and several radio broadcast performances from the 1940s. I was happy to see the Chausson listed, but kept my expectations low, considering Kreisler was in his mid-70s at the time of the performance and radio broadcasts from the 40s can be extremely variable in their fidelity. However, upon receiving the CD I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least. Hearing this performance by Kreisler of the Chausson Poeme was a dream come true. It was everything I hoped it would be and more.



This is not a disc for the casual fiddle fan, but if you are one of Kreisler's admirers or are fascinated with the historical violin on record, this is a must-have."