EMI Classics “Great Recordings of the Century” 5 09677, 70:58 ****:
Recordings 1977-1980 from virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, whose repertory at the time took its cue from the legend Jascha Heifetz. For the recording of the Korngold Concerto, Perlman adapted a lean, driving tone and raspier approach than was his wont, perhaps in conscious imitation of the Heifetz model. The themes of the Concerto derive from a number of Hollywood films for which Korngold wrote scores 1937-1940. His bow articulation for the rapid spiccati of the Sinding suite achieves a blinding speed, literally an etude in flying notes. On the other hand, for the legato aspects of Sinding and Korngold, Perlman flattens the bow to draw a broad, leisurely, full tone that provides the very definition of sweetness; some might find it over-ripe. Sinding’s Adagio proves especially songful, evincing even a touch of Northern melancholy. The last movement, marked Tempo giusto, applies both a martial gait and a folksy edge that could have well been as Irish as it is Scandinavian. Perlman’s double-stopped cadenza and feisty runs justify the price of admission.
At the time of Perlman’s 1977 recording the Goldmark Concerto (1877), the piece virtually belonged to Nathan Milstein, whose EMI performance with Harry Blech set an indelible standard of performance. The concerto’s softly militant air embraces several academic touches, not the least of which is its first movement orchestral fugue. Goldmark can wax Teutonic, but his lyrical gifts yield expressive–though not strongly memorable–results suited to Perlman’s teary sentiments. At moments, the melodic line resembles Rimsky-Korsakov’s Fantasy on Russian Themes, Op. 33, a work Perlman ought to consider recording. The Andante, with its melancholy, hymnal quality, demonstrates Perlman’s high-toned singing line, a sustained cantilena without sag. An effective halo of sound from the Pittsburgh strings surrounds Perlman. The Moderato–Allegretto permits the Pittsburgh Symphony a few folkish jaunts, musical filigree that makes the composer’s Rustic Wedding Symphony a perennial delight. Suave sailing throughout, the musicianship remains amiable, in a conservatively–again, contrapuntal–middle European cast, maybe affording Korngold several of his own motifs.
— Gary Lemco
