Beethoven: Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra

It may be that this is the sort of recording that draws lines in all kinds of sands. So, at the outset, a litmus test might be in order. Are you among that varied subset of 'classical' listeners united by a love for interpretational parsimony? In other words, do you labor under the crushing weight of your desire for recordings of Beethoven that are ever more 'pure' or 'strict', 'accurate' or 'inerrant'? While all your friends agree that the relatively recent trend of historically informed instrumentation makes for good fun and is undoubtedly very interesting, do you unconsciously revel in the idea of a "real" Beethoven, performed, at long last, just as the author intended, the 200 years worth of accumulated sludge left by lesser human beings wiped clean leaving only the True Essence of the Great Master? Yes? Ok, you do not want this. Just a friendly warning. This isn't up your alley. I'm guessing that somewhere, some critic might say something like this: " Ms. Kopatchinskaja offers a rich, technically accomplished, yet frequently over-confidant reading marked by an immense emotional exuberance and propulsive energy which is sometimes far in excess of both historical rigor and stylistic modesty." I wouldn't say that. Rather, it seems to me after listening to it a dozen times, that this intense performance from "Pat-Kop" (the name by which she's she's known to her throngs of more intimate fans, I've just been told) deserves descriptions never used inside the staid institutions of high-culture music. In other words, this Patkop rocks hard. Totally. Dude. This is Beethoven thick and juicy as the ripest peach. Does she take great liberties with dynamics, tempi, phrasing? Heck yes she does. Is it excessive? You bet your sweet patootie it is! She takes those liberties with ferocity and rage, authority and grace, power and violence and compassion. She takes 'em and gives 'em what for, looking them in the eye and growling, then she works 'em over until they cower with fear at her dominance. And nearly every single liberty she takes is a great one. She breaks rules fabulously, fantastically! If only more instrumentalists would do so! Let there be lots more such liberty taking. Sure, not everyone could do it and there would (even more) terrible musical disasters in the recorded catalogue, but there would also be more instances of divinity, moments of real fire and ice charged with unbridled sublimity, too. And surely, that would be a greater world than where we are headed - a world in which the demands of musical fundamentalism produce yet another then another homogenized version of the same dead texts. Kopatchinskaja 'owns' this stuff. She rules it. She kicks it's… well, it's rear-end. I've never heard anything like it. Ms. K commands a tone so decisive, so brutally rich, thick and juicy that you almost feel sticky afterwards. Awesomely sticky. If bringing real personality to a classic warhorse like this fiddle tune is bad, then I don't want to be right. This is better than right. Her confidant mastery of the instrument permeates even the most minute flourish to the point where the silence between notes overflows with the sheer omnipotence of her will. The virtuosity isn't just flash, but is seamlessly united with the material. She increases it. Her dominance of the Violin Concerto is sublimely, ecstatically complete and the sound from her instrument, whether explosive or ethereal, feels meaningful, thick, visceral and sustaining…it has a presence, like wine has body or mouthfeel. This is classical music that makes me want to dance, pump my fist and scream expletives of approval. I can't think of when I last felt that from our wonderful canon of old, euro-art music. Anyway, I thought this release rocked. It got me off in a big way. Thanks Patkop. You're the real deal in my book. *w00t!*