Miniatures Kreisler, Vol. 2

• Main performer: Vojkan Lazarevitch
• Booklet languages: French, German, English
• Time: 58:56
• Release Date: 2008

Review

One of the most enjoyable trends in recent instrumental repertory has been the rediscovery of the short violin pieces of Fritz Kreisler, which have both a distinctive style and an adventurous exploration of texture even if an invidious modernism banished them for their conventional tonality. Big-name violinist Joshua Bell has been key to this revival, but the payoff has been recordings like this one, with explorations of various facets of Kreisler's music and a mix of familiar and unusual pieces. Kreisler was a natural on the violin who rarely practiced. The music he wrote for himself relies on style and texture more than sheer athleticism. He had a unique, tight but sentiment-filled vibrato that Serbo-Swiss violinist Vojkan Lazarevitch does a fine job of evoking without slavishly imitating. Kreisler was way ahead of his time among virtuoso instrumentalists in appreciating the importance of the rediscovery of early music, then in its infancy, and many of the pieces here inventively exploit Baroque models. Such works were mostly composed by Kreisler himself, although he pulled off one of music history's great frauds by passing some of them off as the works of actual Baroque composers. The booklet notes and track list do not make clear that that's what's going on here with, say, the famed Praeludium and Allegro, which is credited to Pugnani/Kreisler even though the eighteenth century violinist Pugnani had nothing to do with it. The booklet notes, offered in French, German, and English, are inadequate, offering only a brief overview of Kreisler's career in an annoying present tense. But the strength of the program is in such delightful pieces of whimsy as Aucassin et Nicolette (track 6), and a really original take on the Londonderry Air, otherwise known as Danny Boy. The sound is a negative; the music conveys a sense of having been recorded in a small, empty, lonely room. Those new to Kreisler might start with Joshua Bell's Kreisler Album, but those wanting to go beyond pieces like Liebesleid and Liebesfreud will enjoy Lazarevitch's selections. ~ James Manheim, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Fritz Kreisler	Tempo di Menuetto in the Style of Pugnani, for violin & piano	4:11
Fritz Kreisler	Marche Miniature Viennoise, for violin & piano	3:13
Fritz Kreisler	Chanson Louis XIII and Pavane, in the Style of Couperin, for violin & piano	4:32
Fritz Kreisler	La Précieuse in the Style of Louis Couperin, for violin & piano	3:18
Fritz Kreisler	Slavonic Dance No. 1 for violin & piano in G minor (transcription of Dvorák's Slavonic Dance No. 2, Op. 46/2)	3:49
Fritz Kreisler	Aucassin et Nicolette, for violin & piano	2:47
Fritz Kreisler	Londonderry Air, for piano trio	4:41
Fritz Kreisler	Poupée Valsante (The Dancing Doll), for violin & piano (transcription of work by Ede Poldini)	2:49
Fritz Kreisler	Minuet in the Style of Nicola Porpora, for violin & piano	4:10
Fritz Kreisler	Sicilienne and Rigaudon in the Style of Francoeur, for violin & piano	4:34
Niccolò Paganini	Cantabile, for violin & piano (or guitar) in D major, (MS 109)	4:19
Fritz Kreisler	Slavonic Dance No. 2 for violin & piano in E minor (transcription of Dvorák's Slavonic Dance No. 10, Op. 72/2)	5:19
Fritz Kreisler	Praeludium and Allegro in the Style of Pugnani, for violin & piano	5:54
Fritz Kreisler	Indian Lament for violin & piano (arr. from Dvorák's Sonatina for violin & piano, Op. 100)	5:20

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