Jascha Heifetz - Elgar Violin Concerto in b (1st mov p1-2)

[addict245]

2 people can play better than Heifetz

[windstorm1000]

I think this THE best Violin Concerto---it covers a wider emotional landscape than all the rest (yes, even more than the Brahms)--and is technically challenging as well. Its always a fault to say 'so and so' were depressed when they composed. But one wonders with Elgar--what he was going through here--crisis? gloom? That upright Victorian gentlemen had another side, obviously, and it comes out in his glorious music.

[windstorm1000]

Elgar's themes r at first hearing 'Tchaikovtikian'---but then you wait a few more bars--and there is a curious English reticence to the passion---the keys r veiled in wistfulness (only English composers have this). Its like the composer half buries the tragedy in this quiet emotion--& then the tragedy comes up like a cork in betweens patches of green landscape. This makes it no less emotional--or tragic-but tragedy of a different kind. This is the emotional landscape of E.'s Violin Concerto..

[aaron1tatamovich]

There is no better performance than this:

amazon.com/Violin-Concerto-B-M­inor-Elgar/dp/B000003FH2/ref=s­r_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1319027340&s­r=8-4

He´s AMAZING

[egonsky]

Dont talk about other violinists under a Heifetz vid ...there is no sence!!!.

[aniabla89]

Elgar. EL-GAR!!

I think that is the best thing I have ever heard.

one word to explain this piece: divine.

[aninalos]

Heifetz played the Elgar, indeed live, at the Albert hall, on a barmy Sunday, summer afternoon on June 5th 1949 to a very small audience. I know this as I was there – seated in the very centre of the front row. I wanted to see just how he did it. It was just effortless and his left hand seemed to hardly move.

[aninalos]

He played himself in with the tutti too, which surprised me. There were no scratches, scrapes or that tizz, that we often hear in recorded sessions. Perlmann refers to these tizzies in the CD ‘The Art of Violin’, by Bruno Monsaingeon. When asked to come to England and do the Elgar Concerto, Heifetz is supposed to have remarked ‘Why do you need me, when you have Sammons’ whom, I am told he much admired along with Arthur Grumiaux.

[aninalos]

Heifetz, apart from that Abbey Road session of the Sibelius and the Mendelssohn concerti with Beacham, liked, in England, to play with either Barborolli (with whom he also played private chamber works with (JB playing the cello) – he must have been pretty competent too) or Sargent. I heard Heifetz later in the summer of 1952 at the new Festival Hall, playing the Brahms and the Mozart 5 with Sargent. His sound always carried like no other.

[aninalos]

In the Abbey Road studio there is a great picture of Beacham and Heifetz, leaving, looking like a pair of session players with J.H looking very casual smoking a cigarette. Beacham lived round the corner in St John’s Wood, where a blue plaque may be seen on the wall.

[aninalos]

This meant that Heifetz, did not fall out with M.S after the recording session with him in the Elgar in 1949 as he got on pretty well in the Festival Hall concert.

He also recorded the Vieutemps 5th concerto with him later. Heard him last in June 1956 in a recital at the Festival Hall, with Brooks Smith, who was, by then his permanent accompanist. He played, among many other works, the Scottish Fantasy. Like always, he was faultless.

[aninalos]

Love the sixteen-year-old Menhuin in the Elgar (a must have) but Heifetz is someone special and one should always have him. Just listen to that veiled cadenza in the Elgar. It’s simply flawless.

[Allanfearn]

I was hoping someone could confirm or deny the story about the recording. They haven't, so I did some digging. The sessions were 6 and 7 June, after a public performance on 5 June, with the LSO and Sargent. On 8 June Heifetz began recording the Mendelssohn with Beecham, again two sessions, on 8 and 10 June (and 12 takes). HMV were by then using tape. So if there was a plane to catch, it doesn't look as though the Elgar sessions were affected. Perhaps the whole story is a backroom myth?

[Allanfearn]

Respect taken, possibly. But given? Did he acknowledge the art of others with equal respect? It would seem that Barbirolli, who worked with him in the 1930s, tended to find he had prior engagements whenever Heifetz asked that he do so again, and that this began after Barbirolli took part in a private chamber music evening with Heifetz and others. At least Heifetz did appear in Britain, and with Sargent, after the Elgar seesions, so I was wrong there.

[Allanfearn]

In the music profession in England a story was told about this recording. Heifetz, the orchestra and Sargent played the work through while a test recording was made. At the end "Not bad for a run-through" said Sargent. Heifetz was outraged. He announced he was perfectly satisfied with his playing and, in any case, he had a plane to catch. He then left the studio to catch it. This may have been the last time he appeared in a recording studio in Britain. Confirmation, anyone?

[PassionateViolinist]

Heifetz was by nature a very serious artist and expects anyone he collaborates with to acknowledge his art. I wouldn't deem it as arrogance, more of respect given and taken. Maybe that story is true, but i wouldn't think Heifetz was THAT sensitive, he usually keeps it to himself.

[windstorm1000]

@Allanfearn H. did not get the English dryness!! I wouldn't be surprised if Sargent set him up. Its a good story and it would be delicious if another historian would confirm. Thanks for sharing. I adore Elgar--the man of secret sorrows--as opposed to Tchakovsky who wore them on his sleeve (love him too). With Elgar all is not as it appears to be---man of many moods--but repressed---he poured them in a veiled way into his works, which makes his music twice as appealing.

[anoldnightengale]

What is it about Jascha? So much heart!!

[wambui37]

I have heard all really big violinists and also have compared them with each other. For me the best of all and all times --- is HEIFETZ!!

This is my opinion!!

[hermy137]

i love old recordings like this one, i have one from 1934 where milstein plays glasunow concerto, and in my opinion the sound of the violin in this old recordings is much greater and clearer and owns more brilliance than most of the current ones, and the orchestra has this special sound of a big concert hall. Thats how every violin player wishes to be able to play!!! but i'm not sure how it is, for example, about a bach sonata...however, it's the perfect sound for romantic pieces!

[vyvyanos]

I CANNOT believe how easily he nails 7:55-8:01. Effortless.

[dxhaloxc]

mischa elman? his tone would be nice for this piece.

[mrviolinman]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR HEIFETZ

[jepdez]

legend

[nagasawamachami]

amazing.

[petrof4056]

It's my favorite concerto. Not bad by Heifetz but I prefer the Menuhuin version in 1939 with Elgar as conductor.

[jepdez]

u got taste man

[donaldcallen]

I agree with you that the young Menuhin was better than Heifetz in this music. Albert Sammons played this concerto magnificently, too, though his recording is with Henry Wood conducting, a man who was dangerous on the podium. Having said all that, my absolute favorite recording of this great work is Itzhak Perlman's. He had/has all of Heifetz's technique and with his wonderful musical sense and that big, warm sound, you get something really special in this piece, I think.

[vyvyanos]

Kennedy's recording with Simon Rattle can't be dismissed either.

[donaldcallen]

Yes, I agree, the Kennedy recording is very fine.

By the way, the date of the Menuhin recording in petrof4056's post is incorrect. Elgar died in 1934, so 1939 isn't possible. Menuhin was 15 at the time,was born in 1916, thus 1931 is the date.

I wish Oscar Shumsky had made a recording of this great work. I heard him play it with the Boston Philharmonic when in his mid 70s and it was so beautiful I can't begin to describe it. Shumsky was the rarest of violin masters, but never got his due.

[vyvyanos]

Well wikipedia states 1932 haha. Pity many great violinists like Oistrakh never recorded it.

[donaldcallen]

You know the ancient story about the philosophers sitting around debating how many teeth the horse had, rather than checking the horse? I calculated rather than checking :-)

Oistrakh in the Elgar would have been something to hear. Stern, too, in his prime (I think we forget how good he was). And Milstein.

But we've got some really good ones now, though I was a bit disappointed by Hilary Hahn's recording. She's a great talent, no question, but perhaps she's too immature at this point.

[anigopal]

I mostly agree with you, but I must say I enjoyed Hahn's performance- I found it full of energy and youthfulness, and her playing reminded me of some of the more childish (character) movements of Enigma. No other player has done that to me.

[soami2u]

Shumsky was a great and underappreciated artist. I have a marvellous recording of him doing the Glazunov (with Neeme Jarvi). He was also active as a conductor and elevated small, semi-professional local bands with his mastery--he was several years conductor of the Colonial Symphony in Madison, New Jersey near where I live, in the 1970s, and how I enjoyed his concerts!

[assindiastignani]

@donaldcallen Mr. Shumsky was another one like Berl Senowsky - a God for insiders, but not so well known to the general public. Schumsky was also the violin teacher in NY to whom many of the top students of the "prestige" teachers went on the sly to learn how to play the violin.

[soami2u]

Elgar died in 1934 so you've got the year wrong.  The Menuhin is magnificent...but I've played to death the 1984 Nigel Kennedy-Vernon Handley version and still love it

[deathmonki666]

@petrof4056 Elgar died in 1934

[petrof4056]

@deathmonki666 Yees! of course! (I was young one year ago ^^) but the recording I was talking about has been recorded in 1932!! (1939! What a foolish I was lol) with Elgar as conductor. And I discovered that It exists a recording of the English violonist Albert Sammons who wa the Elgar favourite violonist.

[MrSeqi]

@petrof4056 ..are there any recordings of Kreisler playing this..he was often thought of as the Elgar player of the day...and Thomas Matthews...

[petrof4056]

@MrSeqi unfortunately, Kreisler has never recorded Elgar's concerto. I agree with you yet, Kreisler would have been a wonderful performer for this masterpiece...

[MrSeqi]

@petrof4056 .....in his day Kreisler was considered to be the Elgar concerto exponent....together with Sammonds and Mathews.....I might be wrong but wasn"t the concerto dedicated to Kreisler.......interestingly Ysaye learned and performed the Elgar at age 57!...Menhuin was something else....still my favourite....in 1998 he autographed his recording ( picture of he and Elgar ) for one of my students..in Oman where he conducted the orchestra.

[assindiastignani]

@MrSeqi Yes, the work was indeed dedicated to Fritz Kreisler for whom Elgar wrote it, and who played the world premiere. For reasons no one seems to know, Kreisler made substantial cuts in the work for subsequent performances and in fact not too long after the premiere stopped playing the piece altogether, which very much hurt Elgar's feelings. Does anybody out there know why Kreisler gave the piece up?

[aninalos]

@assindiastignani.. Love the sixteen-year-old Menhuin in the Elgar (a must have) but Heifetz is someone special and one should always have him. Just listen to that veiled cadenza in the Elgar. It’s simply flawless.

[assindiastignani]

@aninalos Absolutely. For years those were THE two recordings of the Elgar. Completely different, but I couldn't imagine being without either one. BTW, if you love this piece, check out Hilary Hahn and Colin Davis with LSO. That's in the same category, but different from both.

[SugarTomAppleRoger]

@assindiastignani Thank you for mentioning Kreisler. He is seems to live in the shadows of the likes of Hahn these days.

[petrof4056]

@petrof4056 I was talking about a recording dated from 1932 (not 1939 -_-).

Sorry for my unforgettable mistake last year.

[JanForest]

@petrof4056 How is that possible when he died 1934??

[petrof4056]

@JanForest it's a mistake from me two years ago, I was talking about a recording from 1932 of course. I'm looking for the Albert Sammons performance I don't find yet

[HaxIRL]

Thanks! I've never heard this concerto before.