Violin Concertos

Get the Chung, Montreal/Dutoit recording that has both Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky. Both are excellently played and recorded.

Also check out the Goldmark concerto. Recordings are available by Perlman and Sarah Chang.

The Perman Beethoven mentioned is very good.

My favorite Beethoven by far is by Oscar Shumsky with the Phiharmonia Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis. If you have never hear of Shumsky, he is someone who decided against a career as a full time touring artist. He is usually referred to as a Violinist's Violinist; or Musician's Violinist. In other words, the concerts he did give were usually filled with other musicians in attendence (ie, people who wanted to hear great playing, not just a player with good PR hype.) Among his colleagues (including David Oistrakh), Shumsky was considered to be one of the greatest violinists, on the level of Kreisler and Heifetz.

Sugar, interesting! What's the ref for Shumsky/Davis Beethoven? I couldn't locate it... Cheers

Gregm....

http://shopping.yahoo.com/shop?d=c&id=43726
It is also available from the Music Heritage Society.

Shumsky made this recording later in life, so it's not up to the peak of his powers, but still very impressive. It is probably the only Digital recording of anything by someone who plays with a style similar to Heifetz.

I actually had the pleasure of hearing Shumsky play the Beethoven years ago live at Harvard University with Ben Zander conducting.

Also check out.
http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=199
http://www.shumskymusic.com/

Thanks, Sugarbrie...

The Beethoven Violin Concerto played by Menuhin/Furtwangler is most expressive but dates back to the Fifties. Don't forget Ruggiero Ricci, a master technician who plays the technically difficult concerti, i.e. Tchaikovsky with ease. He is still recording and has many new shorter pieces. His early vinyl recording of Sarasate pieces, Danzas Espagnolas, remains unchallenged as the best from that composer. He also plays the Paganini Caprices masterfully.

With regard to earlier comments of the artistry of Oscar Shumsky, he also has a recording of the Bach Partitas and Sonatas for solo violin that to me are the most expressive recordings of that music. His recordings of Fritz Kreisler are also splendid.