Quote Originally Posted by Panjandrum View Post
Even allowing for the cadenza's impeccable provenance, it still sounds "wrong"! We all know the improvisatory nature of cadenzas, but when one has been done as brilliantly, and organically as Kreisler, that really is the ne plus ultra for this concerto. How can one improve on perfection?
Beethoven himself left no cadenzas for his Violin Concerto. This publication contains not only the well-known cadenzas by Leopold Auer and Joseph Joachim, but also several which are seldom performed, such as those by Ferdinand David (the first surviving cadenza to op. 61), Dont, Laub, Molique, Novacek, Saint-Saens, Spohr,Vieuxtemps, Wulfhorst, Wieniawski and Ysaye. The majority of these cadenzas are published here for the first time since the 19th century. The cadenzas by Wieniawski and Ysaye are published here for the first time ever.

http://www.violinist.com/discussion/...e.cfm?ID=16602

Some of those could be very interesting (and perhaps interestingly disconcerting in how "wrong" they sound, and what that might reveal about reception / performance practice). I'd be especially interested to hear Ferdinand David's* and the Spohr cadenza.

*Ah ha: starting at 022:32 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ2ihBH2l_s