Salvatore Accardo’s famous DG survey of the Paganini violin concertos with Charles Dutoit and the London Philharmonic, recorded during the mid-1970s, has recently reappeared in DG’s mid-priced Collectors Edition series. Accardo was then at the pinnacle of his executant powers, and the performances bespeak all-encompassing technical mastery at the service of a keenly spontaneous imagination. A quarter-century later, and Accardo has recorded the concertos afresh, directing and playing solo with the Orchestra da Camera Italiana; but the results don’t begin to match up to the standards attained in his previous traversal.
The first disc of his three-CD overview (they’re available individually) includes the first and third concertos. Many shaky moments and rough-sounding passages suggest Accardo is just a shadow of his former self. He’s now readily outclassed in the popular first concerto by young guns including Ilya Gringolts (BIS), Sarah Chang (EMI), Gil Shaham (DG), and Maxim Vengerov (Teldec). Vengerov’s 1992 reading with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic is arguably the best of the group, however another fine and feverishly brilliant account (taped in 1960 for EMI) recalls the sensational artistry of Michael Rabin, who died before he could attain the universal recognition he merited. All are secure recommendations, but for a more mature and aristocratic view, choose either Accardo’s own DG version (still an outstanding interpretation), or Itzhak Perlman’s with Lawrence Foster and the Royal Philharmonic, also from EMI.
In Concerto No. 3, Accardo’s tired-sounding new version isn’t helped by ragged orchestral playing, and it can be confidently overlooked. Accardo’s earlier DG performance from 1975 still is the best in the catalog, but the 1999 Naxos account from Ernö Rósza and the Slovak Philharmonic under Michael Dittrich is a thoroughly reliable budget alternative, particularly as Accardo’s DG discs are no longer available individually.
