Rating: 4/5
Review:
Technically brilliant but rather remote
Thomas Zehetmair is an astonishingly brilliant violinist, but I
didn’t get on well with his first recording of the Sonatas and
Partitas from 1983. I found them very remote and forbidding, but I
was looking forward to hearing this new recording. For me it’s
better and more approachable, but doesn’t really speak to me.
My reservations are
almost entirely personal; Zehetmair’s technique is unimpeachable
and he plainly thinks deeply about the music and gives it an
interesting, thoughtful interpretation which I am sure many people
will find rewarding. For me, though, he still sounds intellectually
remote and the music lacks much in the way of the warmth of, say,
Rachel Podger or Isabelle Faust. Even Viktoria Mullova’s
interpretation (which I love) is very sinewy but retains quite a
welcoming feel as though she wants you to join her in the music.
Zehetmair still sounds to me as though he’s a long way away in his
own intellectual world and isn’t very interested in whether anyone
else is with him or not.
As I say, all of
this is a very individual response; others may feel very differently
about what is a virtuosic performance. Personally, though, this
isn’t a favourite.
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