APR’s second volume devoted to pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch’s Beethoven features the pianist’s previously unissued recording of the Kreutzer sonata with violinist Jascha Heifetz. Little interpretive difference distinguishes this performance from the pair’s published 1951 remake. Yet whereas the latter places Heifetz’s violin forward in the mix, the 1949 traversal’s more distant microphone placement attains an equal balance between the artists, a wider dynamic scope, and a realistic idea of how these musicians might have projected in a small hall. You hear more of Beethoven’s elaborate motivic interplay between the instruments, resulting in a truer chamber music aesthetic than the fiddle-heavy remake reveals. Moiseiwitsch also is in better form in 1949, with fewer fingerslips in the finale, and riper, more expressive trills in the central movement’s opening statement.
Some listeners will find Moiseiwitsch’s unruffled phrasing and dynamic tinkerings in the Beethoven C minor concerto stylistically suspect compared to, say, Schnabel’s surging brio. However, the slow movement is heartfelt and beautifully sustained. The diffuse sonics convey a general, not-too-detailed sense of Malcom Sargent’s vigorous support. Lastly, Moiseiwitsch’s 1950 Beethoven Andante Favori is slightly faster and more intensely inflected than the pianist’s 1930 version. In all, a disc Heifetz and Moiseiwitsch fans will want to investigate.
