The Art of Arthur Grumiaux

$18.99
Label
Andromeda
Release Date
February 25, 2014
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      MOZART SCHUBERT MENDELSSOHN
    • PERFORMER
      Arthur Grumiaux
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      February 25, 2014
    • UPC
      3830257491163
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      ANDRCD9116
    • LABEL
      Andromeda
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      4
    • GENRE
      Instrumental
    Works ⌄

    1. I. Allegro moderato

      Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Ensemble: Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Frieder Weissmann

    2. II. Adagio

      Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Ensemble: Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Frieder Weissmann

    3. III. Presto

      Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Ensemble: Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Frieder Weissmann

    4. I. Allegro

      Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Ensemble: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Lorin Maazel

    5. II. Adagio

      Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Ensemble: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Lorin Maazel

    6. III. Rondeau: Allegro

      Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Ensemble: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Lorin Maazel

    7. I. Allegro

      Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Ensemble: Sinfonieorchester des Süddeutschen Rundfunks

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Hans Müller-Kray

    8. II. Andante cantabile

      Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Ensemble: Sinfonieorchester des Süddeutschen Rundfunks

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Hans Müller-Kray

    9. III. Rondo: Andante grazioso

      Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Ensemble: Sinfonieorchester des Süddeutschen Rundfunks

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Hans Müller-Kray

    10. I. Allegro aperto - Adagio - Allegro aperto

      Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Ensemble: Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Bernhard Paumgartner

    11. II. Adagio

      Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Ensemble: Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Bernhard Paumgartner

    12. III. Tempo di menuetto

      Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Ensemble: Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Bernhard Paumgartner

    13. I. Allegro moderato

      Composer: Franz Schubert

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux, Riccardo Castagnone

    14. II. Scherzo: Presto

      Composer: Franz Schubert

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux, Riccardo Castagnone

    15. III. Andantino

      Composer: Franz Schubert

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux, Riccardo Castagnone

    16. IV. Allegro vivace

      Composer: Franz Schubert

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux, Riccardo Castagnone

    17. I. Allegro molto appassionato

      Composer: Felix Mendelssohn

      Ensemble: Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Carlo Maria Giulini

    18. II. Andante

      Composer: Felix Mendelssohn

      Ensemble: Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Carlo Maria Giulini

    19. II. Allegretto non troppo - III. Allegro molto vivace

      Composer: Felix Mendelssohn

      Ensemble: Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Carlo Maria Giulini

    20. I. Allegretto ben moderato

      Composer: César Franck

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux, Hans Altmann

    21. II. Allegro

      Composer: César Franck

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux, Hans Altmann

    22. III. Recitativo - Fantasia: Ben moderato - Molto lento

      Composer: César Franck

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux, Hans Altmann

    23. IV. Allegretto poco mosso

      Composer: César Franck

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux, Hans Altmann

    24. I. Allegro non troppo

      Composer: Johannes Brahms

      Ensemble: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Ernest Ansermet

    25. II. Adagio

      Composer: Johannes Brahms

      Ensemble: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Ernest Ansermet

    26. III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace

      Composer: Johannes Brahms

      Ensemble: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Ernest Ansermet

    27. Poeme, Op. 25

      Composer: Ernest Chausson

      Ensemble: Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Frieder Weissmann

    28. I. Allegro (Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy: No. 8)

      Composer: Maurice Ravel

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux, Hermann von Beckerath

    29. II. Tres vif

      Composer: Maurice Ravel

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux, Hermann von Beckerath

    30. III. Lent

      Composer: Maurice Ravel

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux, Hermann von Beckerath

    31. IV. Vif, avec entrain

      Composer: Maurice Ravel

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux, Hermann von Beckerath

    32. Tzigane (version for violin and orchestra)

      Composer: Maurice Ravel

      Ensemble: Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Frieder Weissmann

    33. I. Toccata

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Ernest Bour

    34. II. Aria I

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Ernest Bour

    35. III. Aria II

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Ernest Bour

    36. IV. Capriccio

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux

      Conductor: Ernest Bour

    37. Sonata for Solo Violin in D Minor, Op. 27, No. 3, "Ballade"

      Composer: Eugène Ysaÿe

      Performer: Arthur Grumiaux




THE ART OF ARTHUR GRUMIAUX • Arthur Grumiaux (vn); Frieder Weissmann 1 , Lorin Maazel 2 , Hans Müller-Kray 3 , Bernhard Paumgartner 4 , Carlo Maria Giulini 6 , Ernest Ansermet 8 , Ernest Bour 10 , cond; Riccardo Castagnone 5 , Hans Altmann 7 (pn); Hermann von Beckerath (vc); 9 RAI SO of Turin; 1 Cologne RSO; 2 South German RSO; 3 Mozarteum O; 4 Frankfurt RSO; 6 O de la Suisse Romande; 8 Bavarian RSO 10 • ANDROMEDA 9116, mono (4 CDs: 266:57) Live: Turin, Cologne, Mühlacker, Salzburg, Frankfurt, Munich 1951–62


MOZART 1 Violin Concerto No. 1 2 Violin Concerto No. 3. 3 Violin Concerto No. 4. 4 Violin Concerto No. 5. MENDELSSOHN 6 Violin Concerto in e. SCHUBERT 5 Violin Sonata in A. FRANCK 7 Violin Sonata in A. BRAHMS 8 Violin Concerto. CHAUSSON 1 Poème for Violin and Orchestra. RAVEL 9 Sonata for Violin and Cello. 1 Tzigane. STRAVINSKY 10 Violin Concerto. YSAŸE Sonata for Violin Solo, Ballade in d


Belgian violinist Arthur Grumiaux (1921–1986) was a fixture of the concert and recording scene when I was growing up. His playing was impeccably clean in style, utilizing a very narrow vibrato that gave his tone a lean yet shimmering sound, very little portamento, and enlivening inflections that provided a nice rhythmic “lift” to his performances. As this set clearly shows, his proclivities were, for the most part, towards Classical and Romantic composers, though he did play the Stravinsky and Berg concertos and Ravel sonata. According to Wikipedia, he made roughly 30 albums during his active career, mostly for the Dutch Philips label but also for EMI. He was, it seems, one of those violinists, like Nathan Milstein, who was admired as much if not more by his peers than by the general public, though of course he was always a top draw in concerts.


Since Grumiaux played most of these works so often (particularly the Mozart concertos, which he recorded complete for Philips with Colin Davis in 1961–62), there are several alternate performances of many of these pieces floating around; e.g., the Mozart No. 1 with Paumgartner and Nos. 3 and 4 with Moralt (the Concerto No. 5 with Paumgartner is on this set), the Mendelssohn Concerto with a very young Haitink, the Brahms with van Beinum, etc. The cover of this set announces that these live performances are all newly remastered in 24-bit/96 kHz sound.


I was particularly fascinated by his interpretation of the Schubert sonata: crisp, direct, and completely lacking in sentimentality, much like Toscanini’s performances of the Schubert symphonies. This is a performance that will thrill musically scrupulous listeners but not at all those who insist that their Schubert be full of Viennese schmaltz. Grumiaux’s version of the Mendelssohn Concerto is quite excellent as well, with surprisingly brisk conducting by Giulini; nothing is rushed, all the notes “sound” with perfect equipoise, yet there is tremendous élan in this reading (and sensitivity, too, relaxing the tempo here and there and playing an absolutely ethereal first-movement cadenza). Because he was Belgian, Grumiaux was sometimes compared to his great predecessor Ysaÿe, but to my ears his sweet, lean tone had much more in common with Sarasate than with Ysaÿe’s somewhat darker sound. As a matter of fact, I felt that Grumiaux’s lean sonority and objectivist approach didn’t work for me in the Franck Sonata or Brahms Concerto, the only performances on the set that I found too uninvolved. I was, however, fascinated by the way he played Ravel, which (as it turns out) was much like his Stravinsky: lean, angular contours, no sentimentality at all, and a way of bringing out the structure without unduly overstressing it. Indeed, the entire last CD was a gem from start to finish.


Your proclivity to acquire this set will probably have as much to do with your desire to own every note Grumiaux ever recorded if you already have most of the studio versions, especially since we are dealing here with monophonic radio sound of varying quality (rather dry in the Turin broadcasts, somewhat roomier and warmer in the German airchecks), particularly since this set is selling for the somewhat hefty price of $52 on Amazon. However, I can attest that Andromeda did a whale of a job cleaning up the sound so that everything sounds clear without the least bit of distortion, particularly in the sound of the string sections of each orchestra, and there is no question that Grumiaux is interesting to hear from start to finish.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley