This week it’s a concert from the 1960 Vienna Festival featuring the Munich Philharmonic, led by Fritz Rieger and featuring the legendary violinists Edith Peinemann and Pina Carmirelli in music of Bach and Bruckner.
The concert starts off with the Brandenburg Concerto Number 2, played by members of the Munich Philharmonic. The concert continues with the Concerto for Two Violins and Strings by Bach with Peinemann and Carmirelli as soloists.
Then, after the break the Munich Philharmonic concludes the concert with a performance of Bruckner’s Symphony Number 4.
Violin soloist Edith Peinemann was an internationally recognized German violinist and professor of violin. At age nineteen she won the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, and made her U.S. debut as soloist in 1962 with Max Rudolf, after which she became a protégée of George Szell. In 2005 she became president of the European String Teachers Association.
She made few recordings during her career, making her a “cult figure among violinists.” Peinemann is considered one of the world’s “finest violinists of her time.” She performed as soloist with the Cleveland Symphony in July 1987.
Music professor Dr. David C. F. Wright, in an article acknowledging her contributions, notes that she made her American debut at Carnegie Hall in 1965. In later years, she gave master classes at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Indiana University at Bloomington, Kusatsu Festival in Japan and the Lucerne Conservatory. In 2005, she was the international president of the European String Teachers Association (ESTA). Wright offers his impression of her abilities:
Her recordings are few. There is the Dvořák Concerto, Prokofiev 1 and a sensational performance of the Berg conducted by Rudolf Kempe. I have heard and marvelled at her solo Bach and Bruch’s first concerto with the BBC Philharmonic … Along with Ginette Neveu, she is the best.
Critic Roger Hecht described her recorded performance with Kempe:
Edith Peinemann was a cult figure among violinists, and it is easy to hear why … it is clear that she saw herself as a member of an ensemble rather than a virtuoso soloist. Her warm tone and singing style fit Kempe’s approach well. The interplay between violin and orchestra is a pleasure to hear from the opening bars which actually glisten.
Pina Carmirelli started studying music and playing in public when she was very young. She was a pupil of Michelangelo Abbado, and graduated from the Milan Conservatory in violin (1930) and composition (1935). She won the Premio Stradivari in 1937 and the Premio Paganini in 1940. She married the cellist Arturo Bonucci.
She starred in a long concert career, both as soloist and in chamber groups, some of which she co-founded herself:
The Boccherini Quintet (1950) with Arrigo Pelliccia and Guido Mozzato (violins), Luigi Sagrati and Renzo Sabatini (viola) and her husband Arturo Bonucci (first cello) and Nerio Brunelli (second cello).
The Carmirelli Quartet (1954) with Arturo Bonucci (cello), Montserrat Cervera (second violin) and Luigi Sagrati (viola). (1954)[2]
The Quintetto Fauré (1979) with Maureen Jones (piano), Federico Agostini (second violin), Massimo Paris (viola) and Francesco Strano (cello).
She was a tenured professor of advanced studies at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia from 1941. She performed in recitals with Rudolf Serkin and Sergio Lorenzi and as a soloist under the direction of Carlo Maria Giulini. She was also first violin of I Musici. As musicologist she edited the critical edition of the work of Boccherini.
Another historic concert this week.
