Years of encores have guaranteed the cult longevity of Kreisler's music – certainly among violinists. Kreisler's disc consists of his own pieces and a large number of arrangements.
Some of the latter are pretty feeble musically, yet the great violinist's unique artistry and magical tone-quality shine through. Sometimes he doesn't land right in the middle of a note, but always plays with the timing and phrasing of a great singer. Nothing is routine or set in his playing, which has a continual feeling of discovery and freshness. The transfers are excellent.
Joshua Bell learned Kreisler from his teacher, the late Josef Gingold, yet his approach is anything but 'old school'. He habitually avoids the pitfalls of imitation, flashiness and patronising overkill, preferring instead to revisit the music with modern ears. His Caprice viennois is lightyears removed from the composer's own, a fresh-faced, strongly characterised reading that trades sentimentality for just a hint of jazz. And there's that inseparable twosome, Liebesfreud and Liebesleid, the latter displaying Bell's tone at its most alluring. The longest piece here is the Praeludium and Allegro in the style of Pugnani which he gives the full treatment, deftly pointing the Allegro, relishing passagework and double- stopping with impressive accuracy. Some pieces seem indivisible from Kreisler's own very individual tone and phrasing, Polichinelle, for example, and Marche miniature viennoise, both of which paraded the sort of personalised rubato, timing and tone-production that have for so long seemed part of the music's very essence.
Bell's smooth, witty and keenly inflected readings make for elevated entertainment: they may not replace the composer's own, but they do provide a youthful and in many ways illuminating alternative. The recordings are excellent, but Coker's fine accompaniments occasionally seem overprominent.