Added: 5 years ago
From: aimson
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  • Thank you for posting. I studied with him at Indiana University. Miss him very much. I consider it a greatest pleasure and honor being able to stand next him and listen to his playing.

  • I have never before heard violin playing on this order!

  • Franco Gulli- The ultimate in refinement and taste, violinistically, musically, and personally.

  • @honkeydonkeyponkey I know what you are saying. I am spoiled by Heifetz though, most other violinists I hear are so bland in comparison. Gulli is not one of them, of course! My guess is that Gulli was not more famous because he didn't want to be. He saw himself primarily as a teacher, not a performer. It's similar to Gingold, who most only know as the legendary teacher. However, he was primary 2nd violinist in Tuscanini's orchestra! Fame holds little meaning in music to those who really care.

  • great piece. i like it much better than a lot of paganini's other works

  • One of the most talented violinists ever! His tone is incredible touching!

  • This was my teachers teacher!!

  • I have a recording of Gulli playing Paganini Violin Concerto No1.

    Its my teacher's, I'll ask him if I can put it on youtube in my next lesson

  • In addition to magnificent technique, a tremendous overview of the works he mastered, a complete multi-stylistic grasp and a wonderful, noble personality, he had - in person - the most beautiful violin tone I've ever heard in 50 years of music listening. It was like chilled vintage champagne, sipped in the desert...

  • Paganini concerto n. 5 is now available on my channel! :o)

  • I'm posting some Franco Gulli music on Youtube. By now there is only Prokofiev concerto op.19 with Celibidache, but I'll publish many other works very soon!

  • Great fiddle playing!

  • I have the honour to study with Franco Gulli's sister Giuliana...She's great, as Franco was...they played very often together.

    As always Italy forgets his talents...

  • Giuliana is my grandmother!

    Tell her ciao & baci from Canada (:

    x. Nathalie

  • Giuliana tells her grandnephew that the telephone was patented in 1876 by Bell

    1871 Meucci filed a patent caveat

  • Lori?

  • Lori ? nope!

    Graham Bell !!

    lol

  • @helenagothicangel13 hey, call her!! chiama la nonna per piacere!

  • in italy we are a lot...

  • Grandissimo Franco GULLI..Peccato trovare solo questa registrazione non video su YouTube..Come mai??? Per me è stato il più grande Violinista Italiano del '900..Grazie Maestro!!!.... Paolo Ardinghi

  • Condivido la tua opinione sul Maestro. Ed é veramente PECCATO trovare soltanto questo brano suonato da lui. Ho avuto la fortuna di ricevere qualche lezioni da lui e posso dire che era un aristocrata, non solo come violinista ma anche come uomo.

    Gabriel

  • I really enjoyed this! A different sound but totally enjoyable! Thanks for posting

  • Perhaps it takes a great Italian to best interpret another great Italian! Seriously, Gulli combines a gorgeous, flexible tone with deft technique and musicianship.

  • Fantastic! A simple and true playing, very touching and without any exaggerations! A model for the actual generation who is making such efforts (facially) to bring out ... so little...

    I am honored I've personally met him in Indianapolis, just shortly before he died! A great man!

  • Superb! This Palpiti is as good as any I've heard. A long time ago I heard Gulli play Mozart #4 with the New Mexico Symphony. What a stunning and polished artist he is! He never "overreaches" and he always puts the music before his ego in any piece I have ever hear Gulli play. Thanks for the wonderful post.

  • Fantastic player. He was obviously in a very echoey room unfortunately.

  • I actually like the recording quality - with slightly better equipment ($50+ sound card and $30+ headphone, say) you should be able to hear the string bite quite clearly. You should use the &fmt=18 trick with the youtube address of course.

  • My Pro Tools system beats the hell out of $50 sound card :)

  • Very nice sound.

    (Just in brackets: I prefer Vengerov's approach for this piece from the CD "Virtuoso Vengerov".)

  • he s such good in it that the divariations in tempos and intonation are on purpose for sure, to add personality to the piece, i really liked it , thanks for it!!

    i also highly recommend ilya gringolt's version, he is a young promess... winner of 98's paganinis international price!

  • I love this every time I hear it. I like it even more than Ivry Gitlis's version, whose version I loved from the very first time I heard it! If none of you have ever heard it, check out my video of it, it's really good stuff

  • I have record from these piece with Leonid Kogan... This is good performance but you must listen with Kogan.... That is the best performance of this piece!!!

  • I am not agrre with you. My be the best is Vasco Abadjiev's version here in you tube!

    hvassilev

  • This is the most perfectly played piece of music I have ever heard

  • I studied with Mr. Gulli for a year at Indiana University before going to Guilet and Galamian, then Delay and Aitay.

    Gulli's playing was always refined, and I never saw him go wild as a violinist until he came and played the Bartok Second Violin Concerto: it was full of fire and the best ever still. After that, I was amazed by his scope and passion.

  • Adoro!

  • Nell'Olimpo dei Grandi!Gran Signore della Musica,dai tempi dell'orchestra de"i pomeriggi musicali"di Milano dove era il primo violino..sono orgoglioso di averlo conosciuto..conservo il biglietto da visita..semplicissimo..solamen­te Franco Gulli e null'altro.

  • No doubt about it. One of the greatest Violinists!! There is also his recording of the Schubert Gran Duo...beautifull!!

  • I just got a live recording of Paganini #1 & #5. It's wonderful! Such a great violinist. I heard him play the Beethoven in Spokane. Remember going backstage & seeing him smoking his Dunhill cigarettes. So elegant and refined. Wish he had more recordings. A shame he never shined among the greats. He deserves a place among them. Just as Campoli & Oscar Shumsky do...

  • He was my teacher at Indiana University in Bloomington. I studied with him for about six years. The first year at IU I couldn't be enrolled in school because I had to learn english first so I got private lessons from him. He never charged me for a full year! Gentlemen like him don't exist anymore... In Italy he had never been appreciated enough. Then he was offered a teaching position in Bloomington during the "Golden Era" of the school. He moved there and remained until the end of his life.

  • Hey, who are you ? I studied with Mr Gulli, Gingold, Wronski, and Guilet as well. This was from 1975 to 1984, and again with Gingold in 1985-86. I'd love to know who you are, but posting an e-mail here would be akin to e-mail suicide. LOL !

  • Hey Violdick, nice to find some "school mates" on YT. I was there long after you, from 1996 to almost 2002. But you probably know Yuval very well, I mean Yuval Yaron... crazy one, and still is. I know, you are right about the email. Isn't there a system to get each other's email on this website?

  • A world-class violinist like Szeryng,Oistrakh,Grumiaux and Heifetz

  • ehy my name's Paolo Gulli and i play the guitar.... yea

  • Another Gulli?

    I thought my last name was uncommon.

  • Aimson hit the nail on the head. Perfect intonation. But not flashy.

  • Fantastic!! Does anyone know about him more? He is a great violinist; I wish he did more solo. He must be a wonderful teacher!! Thank you for sharing!!

  • My dad's teacher!!!

  • Absolutely first rate violin playing and best classical Paganini style in the same class as Prihoda!

  • Wow...yeah, he definitely could have been up there with Oistrakh and them.

    My first time listening to him actually. Being relatively well-versed (I think) in the various greats of the violin's past, I noticed elements of his playing that resemble several other violinists. I think in general, he reminds me most of Kogan, though that's not saying nearly enough about him.

  • I love Kogan as well. This is so beautiful, and the sounds of violin are so clear and passionate. Wonderful!

  • Definitely Kogan-esque, I agree...almost eerily so, actually. His tight sound production, and fast vibrato very much resemble Kogan's.

  • You are right! Only I think Kogan plays with a bit more, I don't know, aggression you might say, whilst Gulli here is more like lay back and just play some amazing music.

  • He was my first violin teacher's prof and I had the privilege hearing him perform with Bruno Gioranna Mozart's Sym Concertante; Unforgettable and as superb as this recording

  • This is a great song

  • i really appreciate all of your videos of other not-so-well-known great violinists. and i agree with you: it's too bad some of these teachers didn't have a solo career like heifetz, oistrakh, menuhin, etc. but i guess it's good that he was a great teacher. some teachers aren't so great performers and some performers aren't so great teachers. so take your pick, i guess.

  • Glad you are enjoying the videos. I'm sorry I don't have more videos! Actually, I stopped posting audio because I thought it was kind of silly to have so many already. If I were you, I'd go out and buy a copy of Gulli's CD. You will not be disappointed, I guarantee it :)

  • Well, when I said videos, I meant all the stuff you've posted on YouTube: video, audio, etc. I like it all. Any place you would suggest to find his CD?

  • Thank you for posting this. I stumbled on this by pure chance. He was my father and its quite moving to see all the kind things people have posted about him. Thank you,

    Francesco

  • Your dad was an inspiring artist. I will look for more of his work.

  • aimson: its funny, everything you posted about him is true. How people viewed and his career integrity. He could have flaunt it his talent and fame but never did. He was very humble and that is why people loved him so much. That is one of the things that made him truly special. He is greatly missed. Thanks again!

  • I've never heard technique this good. It's all perfect. But as a performer, i dont think he could have grasped the audience as well as some others. Performance just wouldnt be his thing. There's just something missing in his playing. I mean I've heard one other I Palpiti worth listening to of this same arrangement and the technique was nowhere near this, but I prefer listening to that one, besides the harmonics section. It's just the way its played

  • That is my general critique of Gulli and it is consistent across all of his recordings. He misses some of the fire and passion but makes up for it in refinement, incredibly accurate intonation, and pristine phrasing. He is one of the most underrated violinists in history, though he does not play in a way that really grabs your heart. Leave it to Heifetz or Enesco to do that.

  • We're totally in synch. Just add some others to that list there, like Menuhin, or Oistrakh

  • @aimson

    I fully agree. I highly appreciate Franco Gulli for his play, especially his Paganini recordings.

  • It's amazing how similar he sounds to Hilary Hahn. It's quite interesting.

  • Hm, never really thought of that before (mostly because I don't listen to Hahn that much). But I think you sort of have a point in that both have a tremendous full sound and both play pretty conservatively (not too romantic, schmaltzy, or aggressively). I'm not sure if there are any other worthy connections between the two.

  • Great violin performer and teacher.

  • Yeah, he's definitely a better rapper. One of the best in history, actually. But this isn't a page about rapping and eminem has nothing at all to do with classical music. And neither should you.

  • so you like crap. do you eat it too? I think you do because what you've typed is regurgitated crap......

    There's always an idiot in the crowd here it seems. Take your crapper rapper and stuff it back the other end where it originaly came from.

    ( How to win friends and influence people, book 2 )

  • If you scroll to the earlier pages here, sitting on the 4th or 5th page of comments here, some imbecile calling himself PROKKETS stated, "wow this is crap eminem is better", quoted in his punctuation.

    My response was to him, not to Gulli. My response to PROKKETS didn't appear under his comment, which is what I expected when I posted "reply".

    If you read my other postings about Gulli, and not this "PROKKETS" fool, you'll see that I was a devotee of Gulli, and student. Thanks for your concern.

  • bravo!!

  • Over the years he would spend more and more time at IU until finally settling there entirely, joining what at the time was a very distinguished if not the distinguished faculty, between Gingold, Janos Starker, William Primrose, Gyorgy Sebok, among others.

  • Gulli was a protege of Joseph Szigeti, although his time with Szigeti happened quite late, in his twenties, after he had begun his solo career; he had learned violin entirely from his father. In addition to being a great soloist, he was a member of a famous String Trio, the Trio Italiano d'Archi.

  • He played in recital as a violin/piano duo with his wife, Enrica Cavallo, who herself was a remarkable musician; there are a few CD's of their playing available now; some of my favorite recordings of all time.

  • Robert Mann once told me a story, recalling David Oistrakh talking about Gulli. Oistrakh had said to Mann, "He could be the biggest one of any of us, if he wasn't so lazy!" Which made me laugh. Even at school Gulli wanted little to do with the kind of administrative things which would elevate his studio into some modern kind of institutional powerhouse, he just wanted to talk about music, about Mozart, or Beethoven, or Brahms. The rest he couldn't be bothered with.

  • Of course he did have a distinguished performing career, of a pedigree which we can't really imagine today, but I don't think he would have ever pushed for mass marketing of himself. In fact, we would always be asking him about his recordings, where we could find them, etc, and he would always smile, feign ignorance to knowing any such information, and with a wink say that he didn't like them anyways. That was sort of his way.

  • His whole mantra as a musician was in fact to glorify 'the spirit of the music,' rather than to glorify the performer. So it's no wonder to me that he is not better known in the United States, although I surely put him in the highest pantheon of violinists of all time.

    Gulli passed away in 2001. He is truly missed!

  • Gulli was a Count in Italy........he was born of royalty.

  • Then I am ....a little Royal too since I believe we are related (same last name) and Italiano.

  • As a student of Gulli I can say that he was truly a great artist, a violinist of the first rank but beyond that he was a man who possessed a natural elegance and charm in everything, in his speech, in his mode of dress, and, of course, in his music. His impeccable taste is immediately obvious in his sound. Who else could make this showpiece of Paganini sound so noble?

  • Anybody who ever met him would attest to how witty and how elegant, how classy he was, reminiscent of an Italy from a past time.  I've always thought that as a violinist, he was first and foremost a great singer, a great Italian soprano.

  • To clarify, he did not study with Gingold, but he was invited by Gingold to teach at Indiana University after Gingold heard a radio broadcast of Gulli playing the 1st Paganini concerto on the radio. Gulli had a huge solo career in Europe at the time and was teaching in Italy and initially refused; eventually he was coaxed to spend just a little bit of time in the States and to travel as he needed to.

  • Very, very fine playing.

    ...but for my taste alittle bit cold...but who am i to judge?

  • I have always had a lot of respect for Gulli. My teacher holds him in the highest regard along with other great violinist. I also have a personal connection to Gulli because I played 1-fingered scales for him at a masterclass when I was 5 years old. However, I have always thought his playing lacked emotion. I wouldn't say his playing is cold, but I certainly see where you are coming from. Just saying that your judgment isn't totally off the mark imo.

  • Highest class!!!

  • BRAVO!! A sound very reminiscent of Leonid Kogan, with

    a nice tight vibrato; also, an excellent ear and style. The best i Palpiti I have heard, ever. 5 Stars.

  • Yeah, I guess there IS a reason my teacher made every one of his students listen to Gulli every day before bedtime! His clarity of sound and musicianship speak for themselves. By the way, I never noticed a similarity between Kogan and Gulli but I sort of see what you mean.

  • Thanks, aimson! Gulli was maybe the last of the really great MUSICIANS who, I think didn't get enough credit.  His editions of Beethoven sonatas are superb.

  • I have a great respect for Gulli and I wish others did too. From what my teacher told me, he simply was not interested in a career performing. Personally, I think his technique and intonation (absolutely absolutely incredible) equals that of Heifetz, Oistrakh, Kogan, or any other great violinist.

  • Absolutely! People seem to appreciate names that are printed in magazines with capital letters. Too bad, since some of these names are not as big as they appear (Lang Lang being the most obvious case). Gulli is a musician of the highest rank!

  • Wow, now this is what I expect a top Gingold protege to sound like. Too bad people only know Joshua Bell these days :)

  • Hehe. It's funny, I've actually met Franco Gulli personally. My teacher Serban Rusu (who was taught by BOTH Gulli and Gingold) always tells me about the story of when I was 5 years old and played 1-finger scales for Gulli at a masterclass. If you want some more violin stuff I got tons of audio - one of the perks of having played the violin since I was 3 :)

  • You studied with Rusu?? I was in his studio for a year before coming to IU in '01 to study with Kowalski. Did I meet you?

  • I was with Serban from 1986 to 2000, which is when I went away to college, so I probably don't know you. Which studio are you talking about by the way? The only studio I ever knew was his living room. But yes, I have known Serban since I was three and I still talk to him from time to time. He is an incredible teacher and a brilliant musician.

  • (Sorry, I was using someone else's account accidentally to post the comment below. I'm the one who studied with Rusu.)

  • This is in response to your message:

    Wow, you come from a very long line of great violinists! I, too, can trace my musical talents back to aaron copland, who was one of the many european composers who came to america for jobs in hollywood. copland indeed can be traced back to the students of brahms and the like.

    yes, i strongly believe that in order for society to truly appreciate the music we have now, they must at least understand the foundations that classical music laid down centuries ago.

  • Aaron Copland was neither European nor did he come to America for jobs in Hollywood. He was, in fact, born and raised in New York City and studied for some time in Paris with Boulanger. His lineage does not include Brahms nor Brahms' students.

    And while he did indeed write eight film scores, I believe, he was never predominantly a 'Hollywood' composer.

  • simply wonderfull

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