Fans of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto will need no urging from me to snap up this classic performance, which, in Josef Suk features one of our century’s great exponents of the work, in Franz Konwitschny one of the great central European “cult” conductors, and in the vintage Czech Philharmonic of 1962 one of the great orchestras of any time or place, period. Just listening to the interchanges between the soloist and those incomparably characterful woodwinds is worth the modest price of the disc. Konwitschny shapes the music with unforced mastery, offering the kind of warmth that brings to mind a conductor like Knappertsbusch, only with no lapses in orchestral discipline. Suk was in his absolute prime here: his playing has such poise and elegance in the first two movements, but no lack of bravura in the finale. Heavens, this is gorgeous! The two Romances make a logical coupling, and are also well done. Buy this disc. It’s like welcoming home a long lost, beloved friend.
