ERICK FRIEDMAN ∙ LIVE PERFORMANCES IN FRANCE
CD 1
BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op 61
Orchestre National de l’ORTF
Wolfgang Sawallisch · conductor
Recorded ∙ 12 September 1965 ∙ Besançon ∙ Théatre Municipal ∙ ORTF ∙ Live Recording
MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op 64
Orchestre Philharmonique de l’ORTF
Serge Baudo · conductor
Recorded ∙ 25 February 1966 ∙ Paris ∙ Maison de la Radio ∙ ORTF ∙ Live Recording
CD 2
VITALI: Chaconne in G Minor
BRAHMS: Violin Sonata No 3 in D Minor, Op 108
DEBUSSY: Violin Sonata in G Minor, L 148
BEETHOVEN: Romance in F Major, Op 50
CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO: Sea Murmurs
PAGANINI: Moto perpetuo, Op 11
WAXMAN: Carmen Fantasie
BACH: Fuga, from Violin Sonata No 1 in G Minor, BWV 1001
Joseph Seiger · piano
Recorded ∙ 05 March 1968 ∙ Paris ∙ Salle Gaveau ∙ ORTF ∙ Live Recording
Article number: MC 2034
UPC barcode: 791154054512
Release date: 16 July 2019
Booklet: 8 Pages
Total timing: 67:22 CD1 ∙ 74:06 CD2
From the Original Masters ∙ © 2019 Meloclassic
November 2019 ∙ MusicWeb International ∙ Erick Friedman ∙ Live Performances in France
This twofer offers a before-and-after-Moscow look at Friedman’s Parisian concerts from 1965-66 and 1968. From Besançon comes the Beethoven Concerto with the Orchestre National de l’ORTF directed by Wolfgang Sawallich. This is in good sound and captures some audience participation (typical rustling). The distinctively reedy tone quality of the winds is also noticeable as is Friedman’s fast vibrato and the taut intensity of his tonal production, a direct inheritance from Heifetz. The second disc presents a 1968 recital with Joseph Seiger, possibly best-known in this context as Mischa Elman’s accompanist. Heifetz’s aura still remains paramount. The Vitali is dispatched with nonchalant brilliance and is very similar to Heifetz’s conception. It’s unavoidable that the very look of this recital should remind one so powerfully of Heifetz, much less the nature of Friedman’s playing. If he sounded slightly freer playing the Debussy with Previn on RCA, when he came to record Sea Murmurs it was with none other than Brooks Smith, Heifetz’s erstwhile accompanist. There was just no getting away from him. Radio announcements have been retained and the sound quality and production standards of this gatefold twofer – booklet essay, photographs – are high.
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December 2019 ∙ British Gramophone ∙ Rob Cowan ∙ Erick Friedman ∙ Live Performances in France 1965-1968
More consistent by far is a stunning set of performances (1965-68) by Jascha Heifetz’s star pupil Erick Friedman (2 CDs, MC2034). The luminous, speaking tone is reminiscent of Heifetz’s own, particularly in Debussy’s Sonata (with Mischa Elman’s accompanist Joseph Seiger), where the similarities are at their most striking. Other works of varying lengths again recall ‘his master’s voice’, whether brilliant (Paganini Moto perpetuo) or passionate (Brahms Sonata No 3). Concertos by Beethoven (under Wolfgang Sawallisch, with an acrobatic first-movement cadenza and a ravishing slow movement) and Mendelssohn (Serge Baudo) – although generally less finely tooled than the works with piano –subscribe to a similar aesthetic of keen edged attack and sweetened classicism.
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April 2020 ∙ MusicWeb International ∙ Erick Friedman ∙ Live Performances in France 1965-1968
The two concerto performances on CD1 just predate that fateful Tchaikovsky Competition. In the Beethoven performance, in front of a live audience, Friedman is partnered by the Orchestre National de l’ORTF and Wolfgang Sawallisch. The agreeable sound and the profiling of the soloist in the mix are both striking. The Mendelssohn concerto dates from 25 February 1966. The Orchestre Philharmonique de l’ORTF is directed by Serge Baudo. It’s in this work that the stylistic similarities between Friedman and Heifetz are most evident. On CD 2, we travel to the Salle Gaveau, Paris for a live recital taped by ORTF on the 5 March 1968. The pianist is Joseph Seiger, better known as the accompanist of violinist Mischa Elman between 1952-1967. The programme consists of music in which Heifetz excelled and recorded. The recordings are in very good shape, and the accompanying liner supplies all that is needed. The photo on the booklet shows the violinist employing the Russian bow hold.
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April 2020 ∙ French Diapason ∙ Jean-Michel Molkhou ∙ Erick Friedman ∙ Live Performances in France
Un des rares disciples de Jascha Heifetz, Erick Friedman (1939-2004), a droit à un double album exhumant deux concerts et un récital captés sur le vif en France, dans d’excellentes conditions. Le premier CD couple le concerto de Beethoven dirigé par Sawallisch en 1965, à celui de Mendelssohn sous la direction de Baudo l’année suivante, confirmant par l’intransigeante énergie, par la tension des lignes de chant, l’impressionnant mimétisme avec son maître. Le second propose un copieux récital enregistré salle Gaveau en 1968. L’influence de Heifetz dans le choix des pièces, mais plus encore par la sonorité tranchante, le type de vibrato ou la dynamique des glissades, est une fois encore saisissante. Sa splendide interprétation de la Sonate no 3 de Brahms, sa précision millimétrique dans le Moto perpetuo de Paganini, sa lecture incandescente de la Carmen Fantasie de Waxman attestent un talent exceptionnel, même si une certaine dureté dans la sonate de Debussy et un style « à la serpe » dans la Fugue de Bach pourront surprendre.
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