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Label:
  PentaTone Classics - http://www.pentatonemusic.com/
Serial:
  PTC 5186 178
Title:
  Paganini: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 4 - Henryk Szeryng
Description:
  Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Op. 6, Violin Concerto No. 4 in D minor

Henryk Szeryng (violin)
London Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Gibson (conductor)
Track listing:
 
Genre:
  Classical - Orchestral
Content:
  Stereo/Multichannel
Media:
  Hybrid
Recording type:
  Analogue
Recording info:
 

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Related titles: 3


 
Reviews: 5 show all

Site review by Polly Nomial February 2, 2008
Performance:   Sonics:  
The text for this review has been moved to the new site. You can read it here:

http://www.HRAudio.net/showmusic.php?title=4960#reviews

Review by terence December 10, 2007 (14 of 14 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:  
Another splendid quadraphonic remastering from Pentatone. The solo violin in particular is beautifully captured, balanced perhaps just a little ahead of what might be a normal "concert hall" perspective, but not obtrusively so - orchestral detail is in no way occluded.

There's plenty of depth and width to the orchestral soundstage, rear speakers used discreetly but tellingly to fill out the venue sonically.

Szeryng's performances are superbly musical, poised yet also highly virtuosic when necessary (that's most of the time, actually....). There's no element of "showing off" whatsoever in his playing, which is not to say it hasn't got plenty of fire in its belly, because it has, definitely. It's just that Szeryng wasn't that kind of showy musician, just one heck of a good, tasteful violinist.

Once again this kind of release makes you wonder exactly how far (if at all) the art of sound engineering has advanced since this type of recording was first being made by the Philips team of the period. I find the results a great deal more involving and musically satisfying than most of the DDD multichannel recordings in my collection.

In short, highly recommended. Thank you Pentatone - keep those quad remasters coming!

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Review by canonical May 22, 2012 (8 of 9 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:  
Performance
-----------------

I have many, many recordings of this violin showpiece, as it is a piece I studied when I was a young teen. My favourite recordings include a young Itzhak Perlman, the superbly brilliant (but short-lived) Michael Rabin, and Nathan Milstein. It may not be a very deep piece, but I enjoy it as it was intended ... a piece written to show off technique. That is its purpose.

The Szeryng performance is a bit lacking in this regard. The arpeggio sequences are less than fluid, the tenths are clumsy and scratchy, the slides are awkward, and mostly, it just lacks dazzle or brilliance. On balance, it is a 'solid' performance … but it is also the least satisfying performance I have heard by the usually stellar Szeryng, and perhaps the most stodgy and least dazzling recorded performance I have heard of the Paganini No1. To be fair, this is a piece that is usually tackled by wunderkids eager to show off their technical wizardry … As this was recorded in 1975, Szeryng would have been 57 at the time, which is a remarkable age to be playing such pyrotechnics … but I don't think he entirely gets away with it.

Szeryng plays the August Wilhelm cadenza in No1 (not overly exciting), and his own cadenza in No.4 (much more interesting). Overall, Concerto No.4 probably comes across more successfully than No.1.


Sonics
----------

The sonics are super. It is a late analogue recording (1975) with direct conversion to DSD. The orchestra has the usual slightly congested sound of the time, and there is the odd occasional crackle and pop or ambient noise. But overall, the sonics have a natural and faithful reproduction of the sound of the era. Comparing to recent EMI releases, the difference is most noticeable: the sound on the Pentatone Paganini SACD is clean and natural ... there is none of the ugly graininess, nor the disturbing digital distortion that one finds on the dubious recent EMI SACD re-issues.

Summary
-------------

Performance: 3
Sonics: 4.5 (reviewed in stereo)
Box: proper SuperJewel Box
Recording resolution: Analog 1975 recording … direct DSD conversion

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Works: 2  

Niccolò Paganini - Violin Concerto No. 1 in D, Op. 6
Niccolò Paganini - Violin Concerto No. 4 in D minor