{"product_id":"sonatas-for-violin-piano-6","title":"SONATAS FOR VIOLIN \u0026 PIANO","description":"Shumsky never recorded the Brahms Violin Concerto commercially,                   though TV film exists of his performance. Violin fanciers had                   quivering fingers set on 'record' when he played it on                   the BBC many years ago and I should know as my own calloused fingers                   were poised to plunge and capture the great man in action. Some                   hardy souls have uploaded their VHS copies onto YouTube. I think                   it's less well known however that he set down the Violin sonatas                   and Viola sonatas for MusicMasters in 1991 and these performances                   have now been revivified by Nimbus. \u003cbr\u003e                  \u003cbr\u003e                  It was always a perplexing matter as to why Shumsky was one of                   that rare breed who, once he had made his belated and feted reappearance                   on the international scene, was so seldom asked back by orchestras.                   I understand that his tart and abrasive manner may have had something                   to do with it, but playing of his exalted level comes very seldom                   in one's listening experience. Maybe he was out of kilter                   with some elements of the public. I remember hearing his American                   colleague Aaron Rosand at his last Wigmore Hall appearance in                   London. The stranger sitting next to me turned at the interval                   and asked what I thought of the violinist so I gave him a more                   than favourable summary. The man's brow darkened. 'I don't                   like his tone or his playing', he said and turned away, and                   that was that. Perhaps he'd have preferred Midori. \u003cbr\u003e                  \u003cbr\u003e                  Not much of which has anything to do with these late, patrician                   readings. Nobility courses through the veins of Op.108 - tone                   and phrasing - and even at 74 Shumsky gives younger players a                   master class in rubato usage and phraseology. His near contemporary                   Leonid Hambro demarcates the left hand accents of the slow movement                   punctiliously whilst Shumsky gauges the rise and fall of the lyric                   line with great wisdom, reserving greatest weight of tone and                   bow pressure for the optimum time. Both men catch the gutsy wit                   of the Scherzo and stake out the finale's geography with practised                   assurance. It's true that Shumsky's intonation is not                   infallible and his tone can become pinched from time to time but                   these are minor glitches amongst the panorama that unfolds. \u003cbr\u003e                  \u003cbr\u003e                    The G major and A major share these virtues and abundance and                   also, it's true, some technical failings as well already alluded                   to as well as a lack of tonal body. Ensemble however is excellent,                   the double stopping in the Adagio of Op.78 on the money, whilst                   the piano's bass tolling is memorably insisted upon by Hambro.                   In the lyrically settled Op.100 things are first class, the lyric                   warmth conveyed with nobility but no hint of glutinous over vibration,                   albeit the slowing vibrato makes itself heard most especially                   in the sonata's finale where tone colours could be better                   varied. \u003cbr\u003e                  \u003cbr\u003e                  Some may not know that Shumsky played the viola - though his son                   Eric does - but as he shows here he most certainly did. He was                   once an august member of William Primrose's quartet and I                   think it's to that great Scotsman that we can best ascribe                   the strongest influence on his viola playing. The tempi are remarkably                   similar - Primrose recorded I with Kapell and II with Gerald Moore                   and both with Firkušný. If you admire, say, Rivka                   Golani's playing (with Bogino, Conifer CDCF199) you will find                   Shumsky almost brusque in comparison. But this kind of 'alto'                   toned viola playing aligns well with Primrose's own, albeit                   the myriad colours and virtuosic panache of Primrose are a very                   different thing from Shumsky's own playing, which can sound                   rather more one dimensional. But it does share that same tensile-expressive                   curvature, that unsentimental affection, the subtlety of metrics                   and rubati. \u003cbr\u003e                  \u003cbr\u003e                  This is one for Shumsky's admirers. It's not without its                   faults but it enshrines playing of rapt wisdom and assurance,                   and fortunately captures both Shumsky and his excellent colleague                   Hambro well. \u003cbr\u003e                  \u003cbr\u003e                 -- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International","brand":"Nimbus","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49607558267160,"sku":"710357251320","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/1280914.jpg?v=1777768732","url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/products\/sonatas-for-violin-piano-6","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}