Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto / Heifetz / Reiner

*NOTE: This record was not noisy enough to rate our M-- to EX++ grade, but it's not quite up to our standards for Mint Minus Minus either. If you're looking for quiet vinyl, this is probably not the best copy for you.

For those of you who have only heard the Classic pressing, you are in for a world of better sound. The Classic is both aggressive and lacking in texture at the same time, the worst of both worlds.

Bernie's cutting system is what I would call Low Resolution -- the harmonics and subtleties of the sound simply disappear. We write about it on our blog, under the heading Bernie Grundman's Work for Classic Records in Four Words: Hard, Sour, Colored and Crude. Search for it if you would like to know more.

This vintage Living Stereo pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn't showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to "see" the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It's what vintage all analog recordings are known for -- this sound.

If you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it -- not often, and certainly not always -- but maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.

What The Best Sides Of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto Have To Offer Is Not Hard To Hear

• The biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space
• The most Tubey Magic, without which you have almost nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes in 1958
• Tight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low
• Natural tonality in the midrange -- with all the instruments having the correct timbre
• Transparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space

No doubt there's more but we hope that should do for now. Playing the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above, and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.

Better Front Ends

I would make the further point that the better your front end is the less likely you are to have a problem with vinyl like this, which is the opposite of what many audiophiles perceive to be the case. In other words, some of the cheaper tables and carts seem to make the surface noise more objectionable, not less. On the other hand, some pricey cartridges -- the Benz line comes to mind -- are consistently noisier than those by Dynavector, Lyra and others, in our experience anyway.

Either way, you must be happy with the record. If not, we will happily take it back.

What We're Listening For On Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto

• Energy for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?
• The Big Sound comes next -- wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.
• Then transient information -- fast, clear, sharp attacks, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.
• Next: transparency -- the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the instruments.
• Extend the top and bottom and voila, you have The Real Thing -- an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.

Vinyl Condition

Mint Minus Minus and maybe a bit better is about as quiet as any vintage pressing will play, and since only the right vintage pressings have any hope of sounding good on this album, that will most often be the playing condition of the copies we sell. (The copies that are even a bit noisier get listed on the site are seriously reduced prices or traded back in to the local record stores we shop at.)

Those of you looking for quiet vinyl will have to settle for the sound of other pressings and Heavy Vinyl reissues, purchased elsewhere of course as we have no interest in selling records that don't have the vintage analog magic of these wonderful recordings.

If you want to make the trade-off between bad sound and quiet surfaces with whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing might be available, well, that's certainly your prerogative, but we can't imagine losing what's good about this music -- the size, the energy, the presence, the clarity, the weight -- just to hear it with less background noise.

A Must Own Violin Recording by a True Master

This wonderful violin concerto -- one of the greatest ever composed -- should be part of any serious Living Stereo Classical Collection.

Others that belong in that category can be found here.

Side One

• First Movement: Allegro Moderato

Side Two

• Second Movement: Canzonetta: Andante
• Third Movement: Finale: Allegro Vivacissimo

Violin Concerto (Tchaikovsky)

The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 was the only concerto for violin composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Composed in 1878, it is one of the best-known violin concertos.

The concerto was composed in Clarens, Switzerland, where Tchaikovsky was recovering from the fallout of his ill-fated marriage. The concerto was influenced by Édouard Lalo's Symphonie espagnole and was composed with the help of Tchaikovsky's pupil and probable former lover, Iosif Kotek. Despite Tchaikovsky's original intention to dedicate the work to Kotek, he instead dedicated it to Leopold Auer due to societal pressures. Auer, however, refused to perform it, and the premiere was given by Adolph Brodsky in 1881 to mixed reviews. The piece, which Tchaikovsky later rededicated to Brodsky, has since become a staple of the violin repertoire. The concerto has three movements, is scored for solo violin and orchestra, and typically runs for about 35 minutes.

Instrumentation

The concerto is scored for solo violin, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in A and B-flat, two bassoons, four horns in F, two trumpets in D, timpani and strings.

Form

The piece is in three movements:

• Allegro moderato (common time, D major)
• Canzonetta: Andante (3/4, G minor)
• Finale: Allegro vivacissimo (2/4, D major)

The second and third movements are played attacca, with no break between them. A typical performance runs approximately 35 minutes.

Allegro moderato

The first movement is in sonata form and can be divided into an introduction, exposition, development, recapitulation and coda. The brief introduction is given by the orchestra in D major; as with the first piano concerto, its theme never appears again. The soloist responds with a cadenza-like entrance, and begins the exposition with the introduction of the cantabile main theme. After virtuosic passagework including fast-running scales and triads, a calm second theme is introduced in A major. The mood gradually intensifies and builds up to a majestic climax, with the main theme being played by the full orchestra, which has been ranked among the most satisfying "arrivals" in literature.

The development section begins with a series of seemingly random chromatic shifts, ending in C major, where the solo violin processes a delicate variation of the main theme. A heroic orchestral tutti of the main theme in F major follows, building up to Tchaikovsky's own, technically demanding cadenza that makes use of some of the violin's highest notes. After the cadenza, which ends in a trill, the orchestra re-enters and the recapitulation begins with the main theme once again in D major. After a reprise of the second theme, also in D major, "orchestra and soloist race to the end" in a fast-paced coda.

Canzonetta: Andante

The second movement is in a relatively slow triple meter and somber in tone. It begins with a short chorale-like introduction in the woodwinds, followed by the introduction of the first theme in G minor in the solo violin; a simple cantabile melody that is "sweet yet melancholy". A brief orchestral interlude leads to a brighter section in E♭ major. A reprise of the first theme leads to the transition, a series of orchestral chords that fade into the third movement, which follows without pause (attacca subito).

Finale: Allegro vivacissimo

The final movement uses distinctly Russian elements: a drone-like accompaniment, the initial theme on the G-string that gives the music a "deep, resonant, and slightly gritty sound", a tempo that gets faster and faster, a "lyric folk-like melody" inspired by Russian folk themes, and repetitive thematic loops. It begins with a lively orchestral intro, after which the solo violin leads into the dancing main theme in D major. A slightly calmer section (Poco meno mosso) in A major introduces the second theme, which is processed in a series of variations. The soloist accelerates (Poco a poco stringendo) to return to the main theme in F major, followed by a reprise of the second theme in G major. The main theme appears once more, and leads to a highly virtuosic coda in D major that concludes the work in a grand fashion.

-Wikipedia