Con for Vn and Orch: 1/4 = 104-1/4 = 120 - Gidon Kremer
Con for Vn and Orch: 1/4 = 108 - Gidon Kremer
Con for Vn and Orch: 1/4 = 150-Coda: Poco meno 1/4 = 104 - Gidon Kremer
Con Grosso No.5 for Vn, Pno and Orch: Allegro - Gidon Kremer/Rainer Keuschnig
Con Grosso No.5 for Vn, Pno and Orch: Without tempo indication - Gidon Kremer/Rainer Keuschnig
Con Grosso No.5 for Vn, Pno and Orch: Allegro vivace- - Gidon Kremer/Rainer Keuschnig
Con Grosso No.5 for Vn, Pno and Orch: Lento - Gidon Kremer/Rainer Keuschnig
This is one of the major releases of the 1990s. It begins with Glass's Concerto of Violin and Orchestra (1987), one of the best examples of Minimalism around. The genuine surprise here is Schnittke's Concerto Grosso No. 5 ... more »for Violin: An Invisible Piano and Orchestra (1990), which is actually a violin concerto, or a concerto grosso with violin obbligato. What it has in common with Glass's concerto is its overriding sense of play. Schnittke, for all his daring and his mastery of a wide range of writing styles, is one of the few composers with a sense of humor, or delight. --Paul Cook« less
This is one of the major releases of the 1990s. It begins with Glass's Concerto of Violin and Orchestra (1987), one of the best examples of Minimalism around. The genuine surprise here is Schnittke's Concerto Grosso No. 5 for Violin: An Invisible Piano and Orchestra (1990), which is actually a violin concerto, or a concerto grosso with violin obbligato. What it has in common with Glass's concerto is its overriding sense of play. Schnittke, for all his daring and his mastery of a wide range of writing styles, is one of the few composers with a sense of humor, or delight. --Paul Cook
"Paul Cook doesn't make any sense here, or he's listened to a different CD from the one I got. The Schnittke piece certainly doesn't feel playful--rather, it's quite anguished in several places. There's a sort of Ligetian undercutting in the orchestral background here and there. Anyway, it's a good piece that leaves one unsettled (a value in art). On the other hand, nothing could show the paucity of Glass's ideas than this Violin Concerto. Folks, we'd heard it all from him by the end of the 70s--he's just recycling now, and the material he's recycling was largely cliche to begin with. How does anyone still get excited about minamilism? The Glass isn't half full or half empty--it's just empty."
For schnittke and kremers' sake, buy this
hardhelmet (lyee@netvigator.com) | hong kong | 09/05/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"the schnittke leaves one in shock, much like the same impact of his concerto grosso 1. don't know where the "fun" is from. there's cry and dispair, and also kremer's unmistakable tone and techniques, but certainly nothing laughable here. glass is nothing in comparison. but buy this for the schnittke 5. it worths anything."
A masterful recording of two great works.
hardhelmet (lyee@netvigator.com) | 08/02/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"After hearing the recording of Glass's violin c. on the radio, I bolted to the record store to get my own copy. What a reddition! The third movement is breathtaking. A must for anyone who wants to get familiar with contemporary music. Glass is a major composer, as though we didn't know before."
Good recording of two interesting pieces
Carlos Icaza Estrada | South America | 07/20/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I agree with reviewer Karl Henzy that the Glass violin concerto does a barely concealed recycling of material from Glass's best work from the 70's and 80's, so I wouldn't call the composition truly original, let alone ground breaking or virtuosic. Even then, I think it has popular appeal, and so the focus is on the solo violinist and then the orchestra. I enjoyed both - I think this is certainly a much better recording than the Naxos one, where the soloist doesn't produce as full a sound as Kremer, though the orchestra is as good. By the way, both three movements of the concerto were used a lot in the soundtrack of Carrère's "La Moustache," and I believe the recording used was the Naxos.
The Schnittke piece is, as one familiar with his work would expect, much more virtuosic in both composition and the demands placed on soloist and conductor. As with the Glass, I enjoyed the playing of Kremer, who really displayed his talent specially in the cadenza-like first quarter of the 3rd movement ("Allegro Vivace"), which I suspect involved microtones, like the rest of the piece. I have to agree with the other reviewers that the emotions expressed in this work are squarely in the heavy and dark side of the spectrum, and which to me are emphasized by the lower to mid register chords of the off-stage piano - they seem to float ominously over the sound of the orchestra and solo violin. And I also think that in its use of both tonality and atonality, this belongs with Schnittke's later work."
Glass Violin Concerto
Dragomir Voicu Dan | Bucharest, Romania | 04/16/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The second movement of Glass' concerto is one of the most beautiful violin pieces ever written. And I think that Kremer's rendition captures all the tragic feeling of this piece, which is dark, haunting, obsessive. It is like a real feeling of pain, it starts slowly, in piano, then it reaches the climax and it fades away, slowly, more like becoming a memory of pain. This second movement is nothing like Tchaikovsky's violin concerto: with Glass you cannot afford to burst into tears, because the sorrow is too dignified."
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1
