Perlman Rediscovered
While mining its archives, RCA has hit paydirt with this one: a full-length LP recital by Itzhak Perlman recorded in 1965 and--except for one item--never before released. Someone at RCA had decided that this wasn't the right program for the label to introduce a new violinist, and then, apparently, it just got forgotten. Well, it's a swell program with a fine variety of music, nearly all of it well played. The exception might be the opening set of three Paganini Caprices, which are too well played; Perlman rattles them off like machine-gun fire, without the expression he would eventually bring to the music. Both Baroque sonatas sound stylish, and the violinist even tosses in a bit of appropriate embellishment, highly unusual for the mid-sixties! The Hindemith Sonata, quite easy on the ears, is a particularly good feature for the excellent pianist David Garvey. Other highlights include the impassioned Bloch and the dazzling Bazzini, an incredible high-wire act to rival the famous Heifetz acoustic. Highly recommended to fans of the violinist and of virtuosity in general. The analog sound holds up very well.--Leslie Gerber