Schubert's 8th, again with Furtwangler. I love both movements, especially the clarinet and oboe solos.
Brahms Violin Concerto, with Michael Rabin. It's one of the four most-played and popular violin concerti, along with the Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Tchaikovsky. Typical Brahms, it's full of drama and Germanic melodies, and bursting with energy. There are so many great recordings of this piece as virtually all the greats recorded this. Heifetz has a terrific recording with Reiner although the first movement is a tad too fast for my taste. Oistrakh has two excellent ones as usual, with Szell and Klemperer. Oistrakh also has a video along with the Sibelius, with Rozhdestvensky, although he seems his age in it. Kreisler has one that melts your heart at the slow passages, yet is as charged with drama as anybody else's in the fast passages. Menuhin's with Furtwangler (!) is another great one, although there is some noticeable scratching. Milstein, despite his own professed ambivalence of this concerto, has recorded this several times (I saw someone say 7 times, and there are certainly numerous different ones in Youtube, including an astonishing video of the third movement). It's interesting how he seems to have recorded the Beethoven and Bruch concerti, which he considers superior to the Brahms, fewer times than Brahms. The way he plays the chords in the one with Fistoulari is amazing. Neveu and Ossy Renardy, a violinist who is unfortunately little-known because of his early death, also have great recordings.
Oh, and the oboe solo in the second movement is one of the most heart-rendering music out there.
The Mendelssohn violin concerto, with Oistrakh. His is one of my favorite recordings of the piece - vintage Oistrakh. A gloriously warm tone and highest musicianship. Joseph Joachim, legendary violinist who has an important place in musical history as one of Brahm's closest collaborators and leading the revival of Bach's violin works and the Beethoven concerto, termed it quite sufficiently:
The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest, most uncompromising is Beethoven's. The one by Brahms vies with it in seriousness. The richest, the most seductive, was written by Max Bruch. But the most inward, the heart's jewel, is Mendelssohn's.
Likewise, I think general consensus would place the Mendelssohn as the most perfect, perhaps along with the Beethoven. The greatest would probably be the Beethoven but the Mendelssohn is perfect in its structure and craftsmanship, without a wrong note or any awkwardness. I tend to think of the third movement as a children's song, it's so bright and lively, but in a Germanic fashion, without an overdose of sentimentality. Incidentally, Heifetz plays it with a children's orchestra in the film "They Shall Have Music."
Of course, there are so many great recordings. Menuhin has a video on Youtube with Antal Dorati, and it illustrates why Menuhin, despite his later failings, was considered one of the greatest. Francescatti, Milstein, Perlman, Szigeti, Grumiaux, and Kreisler all have great recordings (Ferras and Milstein also have videos) on Youtube.
I'll probably post about either violin sonatas or piano literature in a few days.
