Adolf Busch - Mozart: Violin Concerto No.5, String Quartet No.16, etc. - Import CD

Credits:

Adolf Busch

Description:

Rare recordings by the renowned German violinist Adolf Busch from his time with Columbia Records in the U.S. have been reissued. Adolf Busch (1891–1952) made a successful British debut in 1912 and later recorded extensively as an exclusive artist for British Columbia (HMV). In particular, his series of Beethoven recordings with the string quartet he founded were highly regarded as the definitive standard throughout the SP and monaural eras. When Nazi Germany rose to power, he moved to the United States, where he passed away in 1952 at the age of 60; however, his work with the chamber orchestra he organized there laid the foundation for today’s Marlboro Music Festival, leaving a lasting legacy. During his time in the United States, Busch recorded for Columbia (CBS), and his duets with his son-in-law, Rudolf Serkin, were particularly highly regarded. He and Toscanini also seemed to treat each other with deep mutual respect. Bush’s style was characterized by an approach that respected what was written in the score; while it was sometimes described as “neo-objectivist,” it was fundamentally rooted in an attitude of discerning the composer’s spirit from the score and conveying it to the listener. Perhaps for this reason, his performances of Bach and Beethoven in particular are highly regarded and popular; however, despite having performed Mozart frequently in concert, his recordings of the composer are extremely scarce—he has only one violin concerto and one string quartet included here. In Japan, these two pieces were once released as a paired set under the catalog number SOCU20, but they had been out of print for a long time even on a global scale, making this CD release particularly noteworthy. The performances of both pieces are smooth, possessing both dignity and elegance, and never become heavy or ponderous. In the concerto, the first movement features a wide range of tempos; the fast passages are astonishingly fast, creating a striking contrast with the lyrically sung sections. The second movement features a pleasant, soft resonance from both the soloist and the orchestra, while the third movement adds a touch of brilliance to the musical presentation. The recording is also a treat to listen to, clearly showcasing his brilliant high notes and masterful use of vibrato. Since Busch’s recordings contain very few of the virtuoso pieces that were popular at the time, these two Hungarian Dances are particularly valuable. While there are none of the tempo changes that deviate from the score or the showy pauses often heard in recordings by famous soloists of that era, the interpretation is by no means rigid; in No. 18, the technical precision of the perpetual motion-style passage at a rapid tempo is superb, and in No. 20 (which Joachim transposed from the original E minor to D minor), one can hear a melancholic and emotional expression. In the Baroque works, one can sense a difference from modern interpretations in the rhythmic feel of the dance movements, but the melodies of the slow movements exude dignity, and the precision of the successive double stops in the first movements of Bach’s sonatas is superb. Naxos Japan