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| DG digital (Full price) (LP) 410 524-1 (Cassette) 410 524-4 (CD) 410 524-2. |
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| Stern, Philadelphia, Ormandy (3/65) (2/79R) 61 796 |
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| Amoyal, Strasburg, Lombard (12/75) STU70886 |
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| Chung, LSO, Previn (3/77) SXL6773 |
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| Belkin, LPO, Kondrashin, Barshai (2/83) SXDL7579 |
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| Perlman, BBC SO, Rozhdestvensky (2/83) ASD4098 |
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| Stern, NYPO, Mehta (7/83) 37802 |
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The enthusiast is well served at present in this repertoire, for among the versions listed above there are included eminently serviceable accounts from Pierre Amoyal (Erato) and Isaac Stern's earlier version with the Philadelphia Orchestra (CBS), as well as some fine individual accounts of the concertos differently coupled.
Were recording quality the sole criterion the Belkin version on Decca would figure very high in the list (it figured in the quarter's choice in "Sounds in Retrospect" on its first appearance—3/83, page 1092), but unfortunately he lets himself down by some unacceptable intonation in the first movement of Concerto No. 1. Whilst he is rather too forward in the aural picture, Itzhak Perlman (HMV) not only plays altogether superbly but has the measure of this music's fantasy and poetry as well as its mordant wit. So, although I relish the sound of the Decca recording, it would be the HMV version to which I would turn for its authority and character. Moreover, apart from the somewhat forward balance, the sound is well detailed and richly defined.
This newcomer is hardly less fine and in some respects to be preferred. As readers familiar with his accounts of the Third Symphony (Decca SXL6469, 10/70) and the Scythian Suite (DG 2530 967, 11/78) will know, Claudio Abbado has a highly-developed feeling for Prokofiev's sound world. Rarely has the fairy-tale atmosphere of the First Concerto been more keenly evoked. Compare the closing paragraphs of the first movement (after the soloist's cadenza) in the rival versions, and there is no question that Abbado distills a sense of wonder and enchantment that is quite special. Others are magical too: Rozhdestvensky with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (HMV) and Kondrashin with the LPO (Decca) are given slightly more detailed yet not more subtle recording, but it is Abbado that casts the strongest spell. Throughout both concertos textures are more delicately coloured, dynamic nuances scrupulously observed and there are feather-light string sonorities.
In the Second Concerto stress is laid on its lyricism and the slow movement in particular is spacious and relaxed (it becomes a shade slower than quaver = 180); Rozhdestvensky is less ruminative (and, I think, less imaginative) here. Heifetz's pioneering recording with Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra which I still treasure, was sharper etched, tauter and more astringent (HMV DB3604-06, 10/38) but the eloquence of the new issue is not in question. Nor, for that matter, is the quality of the solo playing. Shlomo Mintz phrases with imagination and individuality; you need only hear the way he shapes the first bars of the G minor Concerto for that to register. He plays with greater polish and beauty of tone than Boris Belkin, greater freshness than Stern (CBS—7/83) though with less sense of that complete and total authority that informs Perlman's playing. Occasionally he colours a phrase by playing on the flat side of the note though his intonation is fine throughout. Although the DG recording is not quite so detailed as the Decca or HMV, the engineers produce a beautifully refined and homogeneous balance and (save for the fact that the soloist is a shade larger than life, albeit not so much as Perlman for HMV), it is very impressive indeed. There is plenty of space round the instruments and the sound is truthful.
In its CD format this issue has the field to itself and even when any of the rivals listed above subsequently appear (the Perlman is already available in Japan), I would doubt that this Mintz/Abbado version will be displaced. It is one of the best DG Compact Discs I have heard: it has refinement, clarity, presence and range. I do not have the cassette version to hand, but for many LP collectors (and I would be among them) this will be a first choice and, as I have indicated, the Compact Disc is quite outstanding.
RL