Jascha Heifetz (2 February [O.S. 20 January] 1901 – 10 December 1987) was a Russian born violinist. Many consider him to be the greatest violinist of all time. Born in Wilno, Russian Empire (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania), he moved as a teenager to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He was a virtuoso since childhood—Fritz Kreisler, another leading violinist of the twentieth century, said on hearing Heifetz's debut, "We might as well take our fiddles and break them across our knees."
He had a long and successful performing and recording career; after an injury to his right (bowing) arm, he focused on teaching.
Heifetz and his family left Russia in 1917, traveling by rail to the Russian far east and then by ship to the United States, arriving in San Francisco. On 27 October 1917, Heifetz played for the first time in the United States, at Carnegie Hall in New York, and became an immediate sensation. Fellow violinist Mischa Elman in the audience asked "Do you think it's hot in here?", where upon the pianist Leopold Godowsky, in the next seat, imperturbably replied, "Not for pianists."
In 1917, Heifetz was elected as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national fraternity for men in music, by the fraternity's Alpha chapter at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. As he was aged 16 at the time, he was perhaps the youngest person ever elected to membership in the organization. Heifetz remained in the country and became an American citizen in 1925. An apocryphal story circulates that tells of an interaction with one of the Marx brothers: when he told the brother (usually Groucho or Harpo) that he had been earning his living as a musician since the age of seven, he received the reply, "Before that, I suppose, you were just a bum."
In 1954, Heifetz began working with pianist Brooks Smith, who would serve as Heifetz's accompanist for many years until he chose Dr. Ayke Agus as his accompanist. He was also accompanied in concert for more than 20 years by Emmanuel Bay, another immigrant from Russia and a personal friend. Heifetz's musicianship was such that he would demonstrate to his accompanist how he wanted passages to sound on the piano, and would even suggest which fingerings to use.
After the seasons of 1955–56, Heifetz announced that he would sharply curtail his concert activity, saying "I have been playing for a very long time". In 1958, he tripped in his kitchen and fractured his right hip, resulting in hospitalisation at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, and a near fatal staphylococcus infection. He was invited to play Beethoven at the United Nations General Assembly, and entered leaning on a cane. By 1967, Heifetz had considerably curtailed his concert performances.
Heifetz was "regarded as the greatest violin virtuoso since Paganini," wrote Lois Timnick of the Los Angeles Times. "He set all standards for 20th-century violin playing...everything about him conspired to create a sense of awe," wrote music critic Harold Schonberg of the New York Times. "The goals he set still remain, and for violinists today it's rather depressing that they may never really be attained again," wrote violinist Itzhak Perlman.
It made for instructive listening digging out my RCA Heifetz Great Concertos LP box set - blood red and starkly powerful of livery. All three of these concertos, and much else besides, were in that set. The most obvious improvement in terms of immediacy of sound between that much-loved set and this SACD incarnation comes in the Sibelius. What was amorphous has now become clear. The semi-audible introductory orchestral rustle of the erstwhile LP is now a vivid and organic sound, tremulous and expectant. The solo line also emerges with greater italicisation and curvature, without damage to the tone. Whilst details such as this are not as dramatic elsewhere there’s no mistaking the greater clarity and immediacy of the SACD. The performance needs no endorsement from me, though I don’t rank it higher than the earlier Beecham 78 set that Heifetz recorded in London, though it’s certainly swift. Nor, for that matter, is it as tensile as the Neveu, as aristocratic as the Francescatti or as powerfully humane as the Ignatius.
The Prokofiev is the hostage of some weird balances. I can’t think why the wind lines were as over recorded as they are here but they are obtrusive. Szigeti tended to hegemony of the First Concerto whilst Heifetz staked his claim to the Second (and I’m not aware that either played the other’s concerto). The inimitable "Heifetz slides" are here in profusion and a glamorous intensity of sound, though one that tends toward the linear; the slow movement is relatively fleet and though it relaxes with great subtlety I can never quite reconcile myself to Heifetz’s tempi. For me Oistrakh and Galliera are the pack leaders. The orchestral playing and sound are of course much preferable here than was the case in the earlier Heifetz recording with Koussevitzky.
Two of the greatest recordings of the Glazunov were made with the same orchestra – the RCA Victor. Milstein’s 1949 outing with Steinberg in 1949 is justly famed but I equally admire this Heifetz with Hendl fourteen years later, though the fires had begun to dip slightly and the tone was not quite as rapier brilliant as in his youth. This was reinforced by the LP transfer which seems to have been fractionally flat. The sound from the LP transfers I’ve heard has a heavier, less mobile sound and with a slower vibrato. It’s also RCA up front in sound. Here there’s a big difference. Re-pitching has made Heifetz’s tone lighter, more flexible and subtler; it also doesn’t dominate the aural perspective as it did, much to the advantage of the performance.
The original liner notes have been reproduced and the Living Stereo livery, which sports LP spines in the background, adds a welcome slice of living nostalgia to the enterprise. A stellar trio of recordings then; none at the very top, despite Heifetz’s sovereign playing, but all of an awe-inspiring level. - Jonathan Woolf
This Heifetz recording of this Prokofiev concerto is one of the finest performances and recordings of anything ever done, and in this splendid new digital reincarnation critical sonic details come through with added clarity, e.g., the pp bass drum notes. Heifetz and Munch attain the Haydnesque almost robot-like andante assai accompaniment in the slow movement contrasting vividly with the melting sweetness of the violin line. Most importantly, in all of these re-mastered Heifetz recordings the violin tone is greatly enriched to the benefit of Heifetz’s reputation. Surprisingly, for an artist who recorded as much as he did, microphones were not kind to Heifetz’s tone. On many commercially released recordings, Heifetz sounds astringent, gritty, sour, even false; but here we hear what he really sounded like and the real beauty and complexity of his tone is made clear on recording at last for those of us who could never hear him play live up close.
Rozhdestvensky and Perlman do a beautiful job with this work also, warmer, sweeter, more rhapsodic, a smoother surface throughout. Timings on the first and second movement are 12% longer. Some will like the performance better although the recording quality, while excellent for CD, cannot compare with the SACD.
In the Sibelius Concerto Heifetz is competing with himself; his 1935 recording with Beecham remains a monument, a standard not yet surpassed; however, that primitive recording distorts the overall orchestral sound as well as leaving many details inaudible. Real connoisseurs will need both recordings to truly appreciate Heifetz’ accomplishment. Wisely not attempting to better Heifetz, other violinists move in other directions. Mutter and Previn give us hair-tearing, tear-jerking, foot-stomping gypsy passion. Eidus goes them even one further; his first two movements are gut-wrenching, heart-rending, but he actually can’t manage the rapid leaps and double-stops in the finale. Kavakos gives us the "original" 1903 version, as much like the familiar 1905 version as Mussorgsky’s original Boris is like the Rimsky-Korsakov version. When you think you’ve heard everything in this concerto, then listen to the earlier version, hear Sibelius’ creative mind in action, and thus deepen your understanding of the artistic decisions he eventually made in comparison with his original inspirations. Kraggerud and Engeset give a very capable, very individual reading on a surround sound DVD-Audio. Another worthy version I have enjoyed is by Tossy Spivakovsky and Tauno Hannikainen on Everest, and classic account by Julian Sitkovetsky (father of Dimitri) also deserves mention.
In the notes to the Perlman recording, the annotator* says that the Violin Concerto is "... generally regarded as Glazunov’s most brilliant and effective composition." That may have been a true statement in 1989, however no one who has heard a good recording of the Fifth Symphony (Polyansky, or Fedoseyev) or the First Symphony (Järvi) could possibly agree with it. It's interesting that some passages clearly inspired Prokofiev in his Second Violin Concerto. Although sensationally popular in Russia, Glazunov is only now becoming known in the West. The Violin Concerto has been familiar for a long time, but we have many treasures yet to discover, and when that has occurred, the Violin Concerto will probably move down a few notches in the list.
In the Glazunov Concerto the "RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra" would likely be either the 20th Century Fox or MGM Studio orchestra, or maybe members of both, first-rate musician friends of Heifetz’s, come just down the street from the studios to the hall. In spite of the exceptional recording quality, Heifetz’ emotionality here leaves me relatively unaffected; it seems artificial, calculated; but, be that as it may, Heifetz’ performance of the cadenza is a stunning musical achievement you won’t want to miss hearing. Perlman gives us authentic emotion and drama. Fischer, on a Pentatone surround sound SACD, gives us a clear, straightforward but sensitive reading without sentimentality and makes the dramatic structure of the work more evident. Overall, I prefer both Perlman and Fischer to Heifetz in this concerto.
However, the recording of the accompaniments in all cases is clearly superior on the RCA to the others, even to the newer surround sound recordings. You will hear new details in the orchestral parts. With these rich detailed recordings it is easy enough to generate convincing rear channel information from a quality surround sound processor.
This listing is for a rare audiophile, HYBRID SACD title - a USED / OPENED, in Near Mint minus SACD (can be played on CD and SACD players) PRESSED and ISSUED by RCA Living Stereo of a highly collectible title, featuring -
Sibelius // Prokofiev // Glazunov // Jascha Heifetz
Hybrid SACD Title -
Violin Concertos
Track Listing -
1. Concerto for Violin in D minor, Op. 47 by Jean Sibelius
Performer: Jascha Heifetz (Violin)
Conductor: Walter Hendl
Orchestra/Ensemble: Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1903-1905; Finland
Date of Recording: 01/1959
Venue: Orchestra Hall, Chicago
Length: 26 Minutes 43 Secs.
2. Concerto for Violin no 2 in G minor, Op. 63 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer: Jascha Heifetz (Violin)
Conductor: Charles Munch
Orchestra/Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1935; Paris, France
Date of Recording: 02/24/1959
Venue: Symphony Hall, Boston
Length: 23 Minutes 12 Secs.
3. Concerto for Violin in A minor, Op. 82 by Alexander Glazunov
Performer: Jascha Heifetz (Violin)
Conductor: Walter Hendl
Orchestra/Ensemble: RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1904; Russia
Date of Recording: 06/1963
Venue: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
Length: 18 Minutes 56 Secs.
Performers / Credits on this SACD include -
• Composed By – Sibelius, Prokofiev, Glazunov
• Conductor – Charles Munch (tracks: 4 to 6), Walter Hendl (tracks: 1 to 3 & 7 to 10)
• Engineer – John Crawford (2), John Norman (2), Leslie Chase, Lewis Clayton
• Orchestra – Boston Symphony Orchestra (tracks: 4 to 6), RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra (tracks: 7 to 10), The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (tracks: 1 to 3)
• Producer – John Pfeiffer
• Violin – Jascha Heifetz
This HYBRID SACD is from the RCA Living Stereo series of audiophile SACDs.
The Hybrid SACD, JEWEL CASE AND INSERTS are all in Near MINT minus overall condition! The
SACD was play tested in our audio system and it performed perfectly.
There are no marks on the reflective side of the disc that we could see,
even under strong, white light.
This CD is an audiophile quality pressing (any collector of fine MFSL, half speeds, direct to discs, Japanese/UK pressings etc., can attest to the difference a quality pressing can make to an audio system).
Do not let this rarity slip
by!