Silvia Marcovici, Vol. I = TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35; BRAHMS: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77; BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61; SAINT-SAENS: Violin Concerto No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 61
DVD Program: LALO: Symphonie Espagnole in D Minor Op. 21; BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26; BARTOK: Violin Concerto No. 2 — Silvia Marcovici, violin/SWR Sinfonieorchester, Freiburg/Cristian Mandeal (Tchaikovsky)/Suedfunk Sinfonieorchester, Stuttgart /Garcia Navarro (Brahms)/Saarlaendlischer Rundfunk Orchester/Marcello Viotti (Saint-Saens)/ Hessian Radio Orchestra/Eliahu Inbal (Beethoven)/Bucharest George Enescu Orchestra/ Cristian Mandeal (Lalo)/Budapest Radio Orchestra/Erich Bergel (Bartok)
Doremi DHR-7942-4 – 2 CDs + 1 DVD, CDs: 73:55, 74:10 [Distrib. by Qualiton]
Video: 4:3 Color
Audio: PCM Stereo
Length: c. 100 minutes
Rating: ***½
I well recall having seen and heard Romanian violin virtuoso Silvia Marcovici (b. 1952) in Atlanta, where she played Lalo’s fiery Symphonie espagnole with Louis Lane. After the concert, in our interview, I asked her what she recalled first when working with Leopold Stokowski in London, when she and he collaborated on the Glazounov Concerto for his anniversary with the London Symphony Orchestra: “That there were sixty years between us,” she quipped without batting an eyelash.
Still as gorgeous to behold as she is to hear, Marcovici comes to us in seven concerto collaborations, courtesy of this extended Doremi set. She always plays her chosen repertory with exuberant, accurate passion, so the May 1996 Tchaikovsky Concerto with Mandeal has few surprises, just flair, razor-sharp accuracy, and Russian soul in spades. Marcovici plays a standard, cut edition of the score, taking a few of the repetitive riffs in the last movement that extend its wild dance to ten minutes. The Brahms Concerto (12 February 1988) enjoys a loving hand from conductor Navarro, the oboe, flute, French horn, and tympani much in evidence. From her entry, Marcovici’s gestures and line proceed on a grand scale; she has the most penetrating, plaintive violin tone since Guila Bustabo. The fourth finger of her left hand, from having watched her technique in the accompanying DVD, is worth its weight in gold, given the perfection of her trill and her ability to apply a fast, silken vibrato to her chosen phrase. The tight rein Marcovici applies provides an unremitting tension, even to the lyrical impulses, reminiscent of the driven ethos of Nathan Milstein. The seamless transition from her Joachim first movement cadenza to the coda warrants the price of admission. The Adagio is cast out of a single block of yielding granite, an evolving cantilena of exquisite, nuanced beauty. The sparks fly in the gypsy Rondo, Marcovici’s bow flashing across the fingerboard with a fervent dexterity worthy of Enesco.
The Beethoven Concerto, along with the Bartok Second Concerto, is her signature piece, and the performance (October 1979) with Inbal from Frankfurt, Germany combines at once largesse of scale and emotional intimacy. Her negotiation of Beethoven’s half steps communicates febrile emotion as well as digital acumen, the melody spinning out in huge arcs over a wash of plaintive strings rising and falling along the D Major scale. Her ability to soften the dynamic of her elongated trill startles but does not surprise us. Inbal’s tuttis project a virile girth, a vast cosmos of restrained, Apollinian power. The interplay of forces proves mesmerizing, winsome, and heartbreaking. The Kreisler cadenza, meditatively intoned in the manner of a Bach partita, leads to the pungent rousing coda. The G Major theme and variations float in rarified aether, the collaborators’ tempo preferring to bask in Beethoven’s version of musical Elysium. The brisk Rondo, coming off of a brief cadenza, alerts me to the strong Oistrakh influence that permeates Marcovici’s muscular conception, passed to her, doubtless from her teacher Stefan Gheorghiu – himself a pupil of the Russian master.
On another plane altogether lies Marcovici’s Saint-Saens B Minor Concerto (27 June 1993) under Viotti from Saarbrucken. The emergent tension Marcovici projects whistles and sails through the dark, orchestral tissue, the entire spirit once again reminiscent of Milstein’s uncompromising drive. The last page of the first movement does everything but explode through one’s speakers. The Andantino wafts through the French countryside, a paean to Gallicized innocence. Her concentration and natural lyricism cast the last movement (maestoso) hymn theme into some reverent ionosphere where the pantheon of creators themselves relish her peerless artistry.
The Lalo DVD performance (1994) vividly brought back my own memories of the Atlanta performance, Marcovici wielding her violin like a matador, the sword just beneath her velvet cape, while conductor Mandeal conjures musical veronicas in the air.
Playing the full, five-movement version, Marcovici demonstrates her imposing platform presence in the oft-omitted Intermezzo, whose habanera rhythms with her might invoke tropic nights with Hedy Lamarr. The Rondo flashes Romanian lightning, the filigree wrought by a modern, sensuous Sarasate. The Bruch Concerto (1990) with unknown conductor proceeds admirably, until a glitch –a lost video segment?–splices the last pages of the second movement into the counter-melody of the Finale, the “justice” of my half-star rating. The Bartok Concerto (1991) with Bergel must stand, after the five inscriptions by Yehudi Menuhin, as among the great incarnations of this epic work. The camera work, from the opening harp dialogue with violin, to the huge arches in B Minor through woodwinds and percussion, captures the dark canvas as Marcovici swallows the piece in one stylistically apt gesture. The G Major theme and six variations, poised and graceful, move to the nervously vivacious Allegro molto finale, the first movement’s materials reassembled and adjusted for bravura and hectic energy. Superb on all counts!
–Gary Lemco
