I do not have the courage to make a poll out of this topic, in fear that I would omit too many people's favourites.

So let us just let this one run along and talk about which recordings we like best.

To be honest, I have not heared enough recordings to say that I truly have a favourite, so I will refrain from commenting here. Hopefully I will be inspired by the replies below.

I just dug up from my collection a recording of Midori playing the Sibelius and Bruch concerto's. It sounds very clean and rhythmic but I think lacks some flexibility and contrast. This might also be the orchestra or the conductors choice.

I'm going to find my others and compare. But on this topic, I haven't heard of any Finnish violinists playing the piece. Any ideas?

At long last, I have a real front-running favourite violin concerto recording.

Pekka Kuusisto - violin
Helskinki Philharmonic
Leif Segerstam - conductor

This recording was made in 1996, when Kuusisto was only 20 years old.

Kuusisto's details:

• Born in 1976
  
• 1992 - 3rd prize in the Carl Neilsen Competition
  
• 1995 - 1st prize in the Kuopio Violin Competition
  
• 1996 - 1st prize in the Sibelius Violin Competition, including the special prize for the best performance of the Sibelius violin concerto
  
• First Finnish violinist ever to win the Sibelius competition
  
• Toured with Finnish Radio and Helsinki Philharmonic
  
• Toured with BBC and Paavo Berglund
  
• Toured with Royal Philharmonic and Yuri Temirkanov
  
• Toured with Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin and the Czech Philharmonic with Vladimir Ashkenazy

As we all know, Sibelius's violin concerto is one of the most oft recorded greats in the violin repertoire, so it would be difficult to compare them all. I have two favourite recordings, firstly an historic classic with Ginette Neveu and the philharmonia orchestra under Susskind. The very opening bars reveal an atmosphere and poetry second to none, how many times have we heard this concerto totally dominated by bravura virtuosity at the cost of all else.
If I might be allowed my second choice it would be Sibelius's other concerto, the original version [1903--04] with Leonidas Kavakos and the Lahti symphony under the redoubtable Osmo Vanska. No doubt the final version is a more finished work of art, but as with the 1915 version of the fifth symphony, the master banished some magnificent music.

i've not heard that concerto in a very long time.
i believe the first time i ever heard it was on a columbia lp from our county library back when i was in jr hi. i think oistrakh was the violinist.

Neveu or Kuusisto are your for-real one and only tops?

dj

I still stand by my choice of the Kuusisto - Segerstam recording.

I own the Oistrach - Ormandy recording, I think Beethoven Violin Concerto is on the same CD... a painful listening experience...

Kurkikohtaus wrote:

I still stand by my choice of the Kuusisto - Segerstam recording. I own the Oistrach - Ormandy recording, I think Beethoven Violin Concerto is on the same CD... a painful listening experience...

it wasn't to a kid from arkansas when he was in jr high school & new to classical music

dj

dj, I mean no disrespect to Oistrach or anyone who likes that recording, whether currently or through fond memories.

I just think that Oistrach's rendition is a testament to a certain way of playing way-back-when, and simply doesn't stand up to the more recent, perhaps "educated" interpretations.

no problem. it was a great find for a 13-year-old in the public library of a small town.
if i buy one soon, it'll be your recommendation!

dj

I have the Heifetz recording and like it... but there's something missing from it. I'll look for the Neveu and Kuusisto recordings. I've heard Neveu, she's really great for concerti like this. Never heard of Kuusisto, though.

Ginette Neveu was indeed a wonderful violinist. When she went on tour with The Halle Orchestra and that great Sibelius conductor Sir John Barbirolli, here in my part of the world [Northern England] she travelled in the bus with the orchestra, and going to Sheffield Barbirolli would arrange for the driver to take the more picturesque route over Snake Pass so that she could enjoy the moorland scenery. In October 1949 she played the Sibelius concerto ['They don't know him in France,' she said 'and they don't want to know him!] Sadly a few days later, on October 28th she died in an air crash at the age of thirty. A tragic loss to music.--kullervopete.

Ginette Neveu has definitely become my absolute favorite in whatever she plays (except the Chausson - that goes to Enescu - but who cares about Chausson here???). The Sibelius is just stunning from her...

Which recording would that be?

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2nd mvmt, audio only, with quaint pictures:
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I thought for a moment that here was a recording that I did not know about! Neveu Barbirolli perform Sibelius.
Sadly Neveu never did record the Sibelius Concerto with J. B.
This Dutton Cd features Sibelius 2 with Barbirolli and Newyork P. O. coupled with the Neveu--Susskind concerto.--kullervopete.

YouTube has the whole thing, but I'm planning on buying one of the above CD's.

kullervopete wrote:

Sadly Neveu never did record the Sibelius Concerto with J. B. This Dutton Cd features Sibelius 2 with Barbirolli and Newyork P. O. coupled with the Neveu--Susskind concerto.

Aha, now I see the fine print along the side of the album cover. A little misleading, wouldn't you say? Sure had me fooled.

Of course, I didn't listen to all recordings, but from about 10 that I own, I listen the most frequently:

Shlomo Mintz, BP - Levine

On youtube there is a video of the 3rd movememnt with Mintz and Salonen and I think that this version is even better and for me the best performance of the last movmement. But I think that this wasn't released as a recording

Kurkikohtaus wrote:

I just think that Oistrach's rendition is a testament to a certain way of playing way-back-when, and simply doesn't stand up to the more recent, perhaps "educated" interpretations.

This is shocking! Oistrakh's style is unique and with his rich, warm and plentiful sound hasn't any rival. The most of the "recent" players seem to be in comparation with him like "educated", technically perfect playing machines. I don't know recording with Ormandy, I have one with Rozhdestvensky and I think that Oitrakh's interpretation is still one of the best (no doubt). Can you be concrete...why is this painful for you?

A warm welcome to confuoco, Oistrakh's recording with Ormandy and Philadelphia Orchestra goes way back in my LP collection, coupled with The Swan of Tuonela, wonderful accounts. Oistrakh was a superb fiddle player who championed Sibs concerto when the Finnish master was deeply out of fashion, at least within a section of the musical establishment. I recall one reviewer in the 1960's lambasting Oistrakh for squandering his talents on the Sibelius concerto!
I too have the LP of his collaberation with Rozhdestvensky and Moscow Radio Symphony and the added bonus of a DVD featuring his Sibelius with the Brahms and Tchaikovsky concerto's.--kullervopete.

Thanks. At first, sorry for my poor English . I have DVD from EMI with Oistrakh performing Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius, I think it is the same video. But sound there isn't very good, on the recording is better balanced.

kullervopete wrote:

player who championed Sibs concerto when the Finnish master was deeply out of fashion.--kullervopete.

Interesting, I didn't know about this. I know that Sibelius was out of fashion in that time, but I thought that at least violin concerto was fully established after its resurrection by American interprets (Powell and Heifetz).

So...recording with Oistrakh isn't ideal, generally, Oistrakh is expressive and sometimes lacks tenderness. But at least his performance of Adagio is beautiful. And I think his interpretation of Sibelius is widely accepted, that's why I was superised by Kurki's painful experience.

It is strange...for the most of concertos I usually have definite favorite interpret, but in this case I don't. I have idea how should be this concerto played on my mind and I still wasn't absolutely satisfied. For example Neveu is unbelievable...but tooo slowly tempo in the third movement killed unique inner tension that I love in this concerto.

And what do you mean about third movement with Mintz that I mentioned?

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I think he has besides very good technique also great phrasing, empleyment and expression and it is very difficult to combine these aspects in this piece of music. Pitty, that doesn't exist official recording from this performance.

Interestingly as regards the DVD, I find the sound quality not all that bad. What bugs me is the boring camera shots of the concert. It seems that only one camera was used and throughout the concerto we get the same static shot of Oistrakh with the occasional glimpse of the conductors back. 1 out of 10 for direction!
As regards Sibelius being out of fashion in the 50's and 60's, it was above all the violin concerto of Sib that seems to have been singled out for the most criticism. But the music loving public continued to collect records and attend concerts of Sibelius's music with enthusiasm. Now of course Sibelius's star has risen to new heights.--kullervopete.