Gidon Kremer’s DG Chamber Music Albums

Cover of the collection being discussed (from the Amazon.com Web page)

This past fall I decided to couple my discussion of Gidon Kremer: The Warner Collection with a retrospective examination of the 22-CD box set of concerto recordings that Deutsche Grammophon (DG) released in 2017 in celebration of the violinist’s 70th birthday. Recently, I encountered an earlier (2015) DG release entitled Gidon Kremer: Violin Sonatas and Other Chamber Works, which seemed worthy of attention as a “partner” collection. As was the case with the 2017 DG anthology, I shall approach this smaller (fifteen CDs) collection with three articles, addressing the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, respectively, beginning, in this article, with the “Classical Trinity” of Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven (otherwise known as the “First Viennese School”).

There are only five CDs in this portion, and three of them are devoted to Beethoven. They account for all ten of the sonatas he composed for piano and violin (that is his ordering of the instruments on the title pages); and the pianist joining Kremer is Martha Argerich. In the DG concerto collection Argerich only appears to perform Felix Mendelssohn’s 1823 double concerto with Kremer, so the full canon of Beethoven sonatas provides a richer opportunity to experience the interplay between pianist and violinist.

In consulting my archives I found that I had only one article about Argerich in performance. The selection was Maurice Ravel’s 1931 G major piano concerto, which she performed at Davies Symphony Hall in March of 2009 with Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) conducting the San Francisco Symphony. On that occasion I was particularly impressed by the way in which MTT evoked Ravel’s friendship with George Gershwin, and the best I can say is that Argerich made it a point to be a good partner to MTT.

I would say the same about her relationship with Kremer in accounting for the Beethoven sonatas. In collecting recordings I realized that I have accumulated a generous number of “full cycle” recordings. The fact is that I like these sonatas, almost all of which can be classified as “early.” That classification means that Beethoven’s sense of humor is evident in most of them. So, if I tended to assess Argerich’s Ravel on her sensitivity to Gershwin, where the Beethoven sonatas are concerned, I listen for her awareness of the composer’s sense of humor. However, while the Ravel performance may have owed much to MTT’s influence, my guess is that the readings of the Beethoven sonatas are products of shared understanding. In that context it would be fair to say that these are recordings that I shall enjoy revisiting!

The other significant “guest soloist” in this collection is violist Kim Kashkashian. In the concerto collection she joins Kremer on the recording of Mozart’s K. 364 sinfonia concertante in E-flat major. In this chamber music release she shares the entire Mozart CD with Kremer. This accounts for the two duos, K. 423 in G major and K. 424 in B-flat major, as well as the K. 498 “Kegelstatt” trio for piano (Valery Afanassiev), violin, and viola. Both Kremer and Kashkashian would pursue far more adventurous repertoire in their recording sessions for ECM, but their shared approaches to Mozart are consistently engaging.

The remaining album is devoted to the seven pieces by Haydn cataloged as Hoboken III/50–56 and published as his Opus 51 string quartet. This is a reduced version of the original orchestral version, Hoboken XX/1A, given the title “The Seven Last Words of Christ.” On his recording Kremer leads a quartet whose other members are violinist Kathrin Rabus, violist Gerard Caussé, and cellist Ko Iwasaki.

This music is not performed very much, and it was originally commissioned for a Good Friday service at which the congregation would reflect silently on each of the phrases that Jesus uttered from the Cross. It serves as a good example of Kremer venturing into unfamiliar territory. Having listened to this music several times, it would be sufficient for me to say that the musicians on this album gave the quartet version a more than satisfactory reading.

The selections for this portion of the entire collection were clearly not made with popularity in mind. Familiarity is not likely to extend far beyond Beethoven’s Opus 47 (“Kreutzer”) sonata in A major and possibly the Opus 24 (“Spring”) sonata in F major. Fortunately, Kremer has not been one to prioritize mass appeal. He prefers, instead, to prioritize the appeal of the less familiar. If that is his goal, then he has achieved it admirably with these five First Viennese School CDs.