Gidon Kremer, Berliner Philharmoniker, Lorin Maazel - Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto / Melancholy Serenade (1982)

This was one of the first digital version (the very first?) of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto and remains pretty competitive though perhaps not a first choice. Kremer's playing is surely polished and technically impressive; the phrasing is wonderful and the tone beautiful. Still, it is unfortunately a little short on charm and expressive depth - Tchaikovsky's concerto isn't really the most appropriate vehicle neither for classical restraint nor almost curmudgeonly introspective approaches; it is peripatetic grand drama and passion and heart-on-sleeve through and through and despite Kremer's sweetness of tone he never manages to scale the heights or plunge the emotional abysses of the music.
That said, the technical wizardry is stunning, and the tense energy of the finale in particular is very appealing; neither can it be denied that he receives magnificent support from the Berlin Philharmonic under Lorin Maazel. The sound quality is actually very good - clear and detailed - and only to a limited degree beset by the technical problems that often characterized the first digital recordings (which made the music sound very artificially bright and cold). An impressive and overall warmer performance of the Serenade melancolique rounds off a disc that is, in the final verdict, very commendable but hardly a first choice; recommended as an alternative recording.