Heifetz centenary memorial edition

The ORF and Jeter provide lively, well balanced and Presto Editor's Choice, November View full details Read reviews Listen to samples Watch videos.

Garfield Jackson viola Maggini Quartet. Why isn't Vaughan Williams's Second Quartet part of the international chamber repertory? Played as eloquently as this it seems unarguably a masterpiece, one specifically of its time: Catalogue No: Label: Naxos Length: 66 minutes. Gramophone Awards, , Winner - Chamber. Penguin Guide, Rosette. Shostakovich: Symphony No. The Tenth is a symphony into which many have been tempted to read parallels with Shostakovich's life The refreshing thing is that Petrenko treats it as a great symphony in its own right Gramophone Magazine, January , Editor's Choice.

Gramophone Awards, , Winner - Orchestral. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop. It is rare to be able to say that a performance forces one to listen to a work anew, but this is exactly what Alsop's reading achieves. Excellently recorded and with an elegant and witty performance Nashville Symphony, Giancarlo Guerrero. Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice Because it "booms", i. Another problem is the tendency to opacity in loud tuttis , which by and large can only be endured by the listener.

Happily, for me at least, these were rarely a real problem on any of these recordings which, as examples of the listening experience of their age, must be counted as pretty good I've certainly heard far worse. But what about the performances?

It's about here that the relevance of critical review starts to plummet. I don't mean that criticism isn't possible, but simply that this is a "historical document": if you want to hear the recorded legacy of an artist reputed to be the "greatest violinist of the Twentieth Century", you're hardly likely to be influenced by anybody else's opinion of his or his accompanists' performances, are you?

That's fair enough, but I suspect that the vast majority of folk will be like me, asking "OK, is it going to be worth my putting my hand into my pocket? That might be a good question, but I'm not the one to answer it! I should say at this point that I'm no "Heifetz aficionado", and in fact, I'm ashamed to admit, have very little prior experience of his work. You may think that disqualifies me as a commentator. I think it makes me relatively unprejudiced on this matter, as they say, "the verdict is yours".

The first thing I noticed about Heifetz's playing is that he doesn't hang about. The suggestion that he tailored his tempi to fit in with the 78 r. Tully Potter reports that Heifetz and Toscanini "breezed" through the Beethoven concerto, "rather neglecting its spiritual content". At the beginning of the same note, he also suggests that this work is "serenely classical". I get the feeling that "serene" is being equated to "slow", and certainly these days soloists seem to agonise at ever greater length over each individual note in their efforts to out-do the competition for the award of "Most Sensitive and Heartfelt Interpretation".

My feeling is that Heifetz and Toscanini looked at the tempo markings, were well aware that this music is "classical" rather than "late Romantic", and treated it as such, embedding whatever "spirituality" they found in the music within that classical framework.

Thus the opening drum beats, rather than coming across as some pre-Brucknerian mystical meandering, are a purposeful pulse more in tune with the Beethoven that we all know and love, while the divine second movement emerges as a properly fluid larghetto , rather than some contrived adagissimo molto espressivo e religioso.

Most expletive deleted! On the quick side the basic tempi might be, but there are only a couple of places in the entire set where the music seems even the least bit rushed. One of these is the finale of the Mendelssohn concerto, where allegro molto vivace - according to my dictionary meaning "jolly and very lively" - is taken to mean "like a bat out of hell". It fair took me by surprise, so, refusing to be panicked I listened again, and it sounded better - still hell-for-leather, but now I was starting to appreciate the elegance of the phrasing, so I expect that I'll get used to it.

Not so, I fear, the gorgeous "gypsy dance tune" in the finale of the Wieniawski No. The other thing I particularly noticed was that Heifetz's playing at first seemed a bit "scrappy", which surprised me a little, considering his position in the league table. This might be a result of the no-nonsense approach to tempo, or much more likely because I, like most people, am accustomed to the sound of today's violinists, who seem to have clinical impeccability of execution drilled into their brains at birth.

Heifetz, on the other hand, strikes me as a "natural" - when he put his violin under his chin it became an extension of his larynx. His playing is full of "character", and probably the self-same "character" as would have been evident in his speech. Those no-nonsense tempi might appear a bit "driven", but within the chosen basic pulse his expression is wonderfully conversational, unforced and supple.

Tully Potter makes numerous references to Heifetz's tone, and the impact on it of different recording venues and techniques.

My feeling is that we cannot be sure whether say one venue is "kinder", or whether it is "more flattering": with all the jiggery-pokery of recording and remastering between the original sound and our perception of it, not to mention the means we have of modifying the sound on playback, "tone" can hardly be considered an absolute.

Sometimes it sounds richer, sometimes less rich. I have my opinion, and you'll have yours - what Heifetz "really" sounded like is something that we must each decide for ourselves. The commendable presence of the orchestral sound provides a valuable bonus - it is fascinating, and almost worth the price of the discs for this alone, to listen "behind" Heifetz to that formidable array of orchestras and conductors. On these recordings he is a fiery up-and-comer! There's also a special thrill in hearing how the likes of Koussevitsky, Beecham and Monteux in their prime got stuck into the job.

Log In Create Account. Annotation This disc is part of the boxed set "Heifetz Centenary Memorial Edition" and also sold separately. Allegro moderato producer: [unknown] Special Purpose Artist - Do not add releases here, if possible. Allegro moderato on composer: Henryk Wieniawski composer and violinist in part of: Violin Concerto no. Andante non troppo on composer: Henryk Wieniawski composer and violinist in part of: Violin Concerto no. Allegro con fuoco - Allegro moderato a la Zingara on composer: Henryk Wieniawski composer and violinist in part of: Violin Concerto no.

Allegro moderato on composer: Jean Sibelius Finnish composer from until part of: Violin Concerto in D minor, op. Adagio di molto on composer: Jean Sibelius Finnish composer from until part of: Violin Concerto in D minor, op. Allegro, ma non tanto on composer: Jean Sibelius Finnish composer from until part of: Violin Concerto in D minor, op.