Cheap Beethoven Violin Concerto & Handel Violin Sonata & Shostakovich Four Preludes / Leonid Kogan (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of Beethoven Violin Concerto & Handel Violin Sonata & Shostakovich Four Preludes / Leonid Kogan

Leonid the Great
To my knowledge, this is the only video presentation (other than "Kogan Interpretations", available only on VHS) of Kogan's playing, out there. Kogan couldn't stand bright lights or cameras, although he was a big fan of mechanical gadgets. <
>Thankfully, EMI has released this. Kogan, sadly, left us way too early and as a result, his name is seldom mentioned when discussing the great violinists of the past. Plain and simple, this guy knew how to play - it was often said that his playing lacked individuality, but that is completely untrue for those who know his (all too few) recordings well. <
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>This DVD features the Beethoven Concerto, performed live in Paris in 1962. A scant 7 or 8 years before, Kogan had concertized extensively there for the first time, and really knocked the public's socks off. This performance is phenomenal, with all of Kogan's trademarks - the gigantic tone, aided by a surprisingly taut vibrato, with quicksilver fingerwork and intonation. The first movement cadenza is particularly electrifying (I'm not sure who wrote it...but it's not one of the standard ones). Unfortunately, the camerawork is terrible and there is a fair amount of bleeding and strobing of Kogan's violin and bow. You can actually see the camera equipment set up in the first few rows of the auditorium. The film wasn't edited well, either. When we see a live performance, we want to see the whole thing from start to finish; it woulda been nice to see Kogan coming onstage after acclaimed conductor Louis de Froment. <
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>The rest of the program is on a par with any of Kogan's other recordings. Particularly nice are the E major Handel Sonata, Debussy's Beau Soir, and Shostakovich preludes. <
>The Leclair duo sonata (or one of them), with his wife Elizaveta Gilels, is a tremendously welcome inclusion. I wish they'd gotten their son, Pavel Kogan (today a great conductor as well as violinist) into the act, too. <
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>This disc is highly recommended - and especially to aspiring soloists.

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Great Beethoven violin concerto recording
This interpretation of the Beethoven concerto is austere, ethereal, and perfectly balanced. Absolutely beautiful. <
>About the dvd: the picture quality is not good, but this is of no consequence for the enjoyment of the music in this dvd.

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The art of Leonid
At the first time I saw this DVD, the cadenza in Beethoven concerto had made me shock, even I've heard Kogan play this concerto so many time. He played with an impressing technique and emotion. The pity is that EMI hasn't emitted other Kogan's performances like Paganini concerto No. 1 (with the outstanding interpretation of Sauret Cadenza that gave Kogan the first prize in Queen Elizabeth Competition, 1951), Brahms concerto, Tchaikovsky concerto, or Prokofiev concerto No. 1 (which now very rare in old issues of Melodya, one played by Kogan, other by Tretyakov). There is also an interesting comparision with Bach's Sarabande if you've ever heard N. Milstein in Sonatas and Partitas. In this DVD, Kogan also played 4 preludes by Shostakovich, this is really nice part. The Handel's sonata is great with the accompany of Mytnik. <
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>Strongly recommend !!!