Violin Concerto, Symphony No, 2, : De Vito, Fricsay / RIAS Symphony Orchestra

Brahms:
Violin Concerto, Op. 77 (08/10/1951)
Symphony No. 2, Op. 73 (13/10/1953)

Gioconda De Vito, violin
RIAS Symphony Orchestra
Ferenc Fricsay, conductor

Session Recordings at Berlin Jesus-Christus-Kirche (monaural)

“Her performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto in the early 1950s, under Ferenc Fricsay, was pervaded by a delicate lyricism and a romantic sorcery rarely encountered elsewhere.” Joachim Hartnack about Gioconda De Vito
Gioconda De Vito, one of the great violinists of her time, was considered a Brahms specialist. The only evidence to date of her work with Ferenc Fricsay and the RIAS Orchestra is the above mentioned quote. Precisely this collaboration was captured in a superb monaural recording by the RIAS broadcasting company in Berlin ? a stroke of luck, for De Vito had an aversion to the recording studio. Gioconda De Vito, Ferenc Fricsay and the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester produce an exemplary realization of the concept of the “symphonic concerto”. A great deal of the cogency of this realization is owed to the precise dovetailing of soloist and orchestra, even in those passages in which De Vito grants herself a liberal use of rubato. With wonted translucence, Fricsay allows the solo instrumentalists in his orchestra to share the limelight with the violinist.
The recording reveals all of Gioconda De Vito’s strengths. She unfolds a large, singing tone, at once brilliantly radiant and warm. This accurate, crisply recorded performance by the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester under Fricsay also brings out the very deliberate rhythmic organization with which she shaped her cantilenas.
Under Fricsay, the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester also succeeds in turning their recording of Brahms’s Second Symphony into a touchstone of Brahmsian “orchestral chamber music.” ( audite )