Fischer’s Mozart…

January 30, 2015

 

Julia Fischer plays Saint-Saëns and Grieg.

Earlier this week, on January 27th, it was the 259th birthday of Mozart. As some sort of “celebration”, I listened very carefully to Ms. Julia Fischer perform the Violin Concerto #4 in D-Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

I heard again with great pleasure what a terrific artist she is! The Mozart concerto was delightful, because it was crisp, light, tuneful, and filled with excellent phrasing and good taste.

The specific Mozart recording I heard was an older CD by Ms. Fischer, done under the direction of the late conductor Yakov Kreizberg. And, while listening, it occurred to me that Ms. Fischer is not only a fine violinist, but also an excellent pianist.

On this DVD, we get to hear her skills with both instruments in the following program:

Grieg:

Saint-Saëns:

Performed by the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Matthias Pintscher conducting

Julia Fischer’s playing of Saint-Saëns’s Violin Concerto No. 3 not only shows us her position at a level of perfection attained to by few violinists, but her excellent performance of the Grieg Piano Concerto establishes her as a pianist of international stature, as well.

The DVD includes an extensive interview with Julia Fischer, who candidly discusses her life, art, and music (in German, with multi-language subtitles).

Let me illustrate with some videos:

Here is the Mozart I referred to at the start of this post:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Violin Concerto in D major, K 218, with Julia Fischer, violin, and Jeffery Tate, conductor.

 

http://youtu.be/JjNwd-7ysYE

Did you notice how the second movement is so amazingly “Crazioso”? That, of course, is the title which Mozart provided for this movement!

And next, here is Camille Saint-Saens’ Violin Concerto No.3 in B Minor, as performed by Julia Fischer, violin:

 

 

Tags: Julia Fischer, Camille Saint-Saens, Violin Concerto No.3, Mozart, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Matthias Pintscher, Grieg Piano Concerto