Search - Antonin Dvorak, Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra :: Dvorák: Violin Concerto / Piano Quintet / Sarah Chang

One of the best recordings ever!

MErdoC | Hawaii | 11/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I gotta say that I am not a huge fan of Sarah Chang. I prefer Hahn but I gotta say, after listening to her CD's as an infant (Carmen Fantasy, Vieuxtemps Concerto #5, Lalo Espagnole, Tchaivkosky and Paganini Concertos) and as a teen (Sibel. and Mend. Violin concertos, and Goldmark) I have really taken a liking to Miss Chang.



Miss Chang has probably one of the best techniques. She is more of a virtuoso and so she has a very wide vibrato and plays a lot of pieces with lots of virtuosity. She is one of the best violinist by far.



This violin concerto is just perfect and in terms of interpretation, all of her interpretations are very "ear-friendly" meaning that they are very pleasing to hear.



She starts off the first movement with much virtuosity and attacks every note perfectly. You can hear all of the harmonics she plays, all the notes in tough runs and personally, i could've asked for a better recording of this concerto. (Chang's and Stern's are my favorite) .



Her third movement is done extremely well. Not as fast as Perlman or Stern but everything is just so crystal clear and perfect. She plays the third movement with the light and airy kind of tone that is expected and she pulled it off very well...



I would put this CD as one of my top 10 cd's to have."

Kay... You all say you are great enthusiasts and know a lot

SmoothManifolds | Orange County, CA | 10/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"About this topic of violin music and how a musician should play it.



As far as I can remember, differences made violinists special. Sure nowadays, really Hilary Hahn and Sarah stand as huge rivals, but look at it this way, they are incomparable.



I could tell you now, Hahn's phrasing is really too mechanical - her vibrato is really stiff alla the Brodsky belief in constancy of sound. Delay and Brodsky both acknowledged each other as great teachers but they are very different and so are their spawns.



Sarah is technically too perfect, and you gotta say Hilary is as well. They are alike yet different -- I can't stress that enough. Why not let them live in peace rather than bring up this sort of superficial fan based rivalry -- get over it ya'll.



And by the way, Music is much more than just someone's tastes for something -- it is multidimensional affecting everyone differently.



But I've got to admit, Sarah's performances (live) are remarkable. The intonation and the power -- her cd's tame her, but you gotta see her live ie. shostakovich -- her current game."

Good...but not great...

ViolinGuy05 | 12/29/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In Februrary I am going to see Hilary Hahn play the Dvorak concerto in Cleveland and have been acquiring numerous recordings (and a score) of the concerto to familiarize myself with it before hearing it live. (Note: I am not comparing the two, just saying why I have listened to 5 or 6 Dvorak recordings lately...) In my opinion, the best recording of the concerto out there is Oistrakh's, his interpretation is great. That said, I feel that while Ms. Chang has superb intonation and a very full and rich sound, I think that at times her interpretation of the Dvorak is a little too sappy and overly romantic. Her tempos are, in my mind, on the slow side and as a whole, this takes away from the flow of the piece...it seems to drag on. Also, though I love her sound for some works (i.e. - her Fire and Ice and Strauss CD's), I feel that here she tried too hard to connect notes and phrases and and it bogs the solo down...I would like to see her be freer with it and not always work so hard to make the gorgeous, full, rich tone that she has (not that she shouldn't have a full and rich sound, but it is always the same sound...) Sarah Chang is obviously very talented, but this is definitely not a recording of hers that I will listen to often...."