Beethoven: Sonatas For Violin & Piano / Temianka

Temianka, Henri:vln/Shure:pn

Composed by: BEETHOVEN...

Wholenote Discoveries - September 2011
Doremi is anartist-driven label which has meticulously restored historic recordings for 17 years. Their catalogue embraces performances of works of every size and genre from every period, from early music to a lone South American 20th century guitarist. DOREMI is well known for performances by famous and not-so-famous violinists and pianists. Of course, in this as in any other business, the consumer rules, necessitating recordings by artists for which there is a waiting, world-wide market while at the same time rediscovering and resurrecting major talents that are all but forgotten today, even by some collectors. Their recent set of the Beethoven Violin Sonatas is a notable, if not colossal contribution in this direction. The performances on this set reconfirm that violinist Henri Temianka and pianist Leonard Shure were among the very finest musicians of the 20th century. Temianka was clearly in the league of Heifetz and Milstein and Shure was similarly among the great talents, Arrau and Serkin. Oddly enough, though both Temianka and Shure had flourishing solo careers, their recording legacies are regrettably few in number. As a young man Temianka achieved international fame when he won the Third Prize in the 1935 Wieniawski Violin Competition in Warsaw; the second went to David Oistrakh, the first to Ginette Neveu. Later he played Prokofiev accompanied by the composer. He was active in England in the 1930s and made recordings for Parlophone. In 1946 Temianka founded the Paganini Quartet, in which each of its members played a Strad that had once been owned by Paganini. The Quartet was well known for many years in the mid-century and was the house quartet of RCA Victor. Just before that he had been invited by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge to perform the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas with Leonard Shure in the Elizabeth Coolidge Auditorium in the Library of Congress ... and here are those performances from January and February 1946, originally preserved on acetates and now on CD. Driven by a labour of love, it took Jacob Harnoy months of meticulous restoration to transfer the product of that old technology, which while inherently subject to surface noise, clicks and skips, did maintain the luminosity and beauty of Temianka’s playing. His violin sings and his intonation and technique are impeccable. The revelation of hidden beauties is a joy. Broadly speaking, the outer movements are taken at energetic brisk tempos while the slow movements are expressive in a way that penetrates the soul. If you have more than a passing interest in this repertoire, you owe it to yourself to hear these exceptional performances. Bruce Surtees

Price: $82.98

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