Gil Shaham, André Previn - American Scenes (1998)

The young Gil Shaham established a musical partnership with Andre Previn at DG, beginning with his breakout CD of the Barber and Korngold Violin Ctos. Here in 1996 - the violinist was 26, Previn 67 - Shaham capped his feat of becoming the first American violin virtuoso signed by the Yellow Label with a recital of American music. The centerpiece is Previn's 25 min. Violin Sonata "Vineyard," but most general listeners will be attracted to the items by Copland, Gershwin and Barber that fill out this hour-long program.

I see that DG has repackaged the CD with a simpler cover featuring Shaham and his fiddle; the old cover doesn't indicate how romantic and easy-listening this music is, for the most part. Previn's sonata, which has touches of jazz rhythms, is composed in an accessible tonal idiom, a quite conservative tonalism at that. DG has remained faithful to a composer with more name recognition than talent. Everything is skillfully done but unmemorable. A good deal of the violin and piano writing consists of noodling around in separate voices as forgettable themes are worked out. The small incidental pieces by the other composers are sweet nothing but easy on the ear. The Gershwin Preludes were originally for piano and are here transcribed for violin with almost no showiness.

The one piece of greater interest is Copland's Violin Sonata, which was composed in 1942-43, sandwiched in between two of his most popular "prairie style" ballets, Rodeo and Appalachian Spring (neither set on the prairie). Copland accomplishes more with his simple, open harmonies and folk-tinged melodies than Previn with his empty elaborations. Shaham's gorgeous tone and natural way with a lyric line lead to a lovely reading. In a more adventurous mood he could have substituted one of the Ives sonatas or something from an emigre composer (Ernest Bloch's two sonata are much underrated, and there's always room for a new account of Baal Shem Tov). But as it stands, this is an enjoyable listen, and DG's sound is good, even if the full richness of the violin isn't quite captured.