Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63
I. Allegro moderato
II. Andante Assai
III. Allegro, Ben Marcato
Composer: Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Performer: Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987)
Conductor: Serge Koussevitzky (1874-1951)
Orchestra: Centennial Symphony Orchestra
Recorded in : April 1, 1949
Written in: 1935; Paris, France
You are correct that Heifetz gives a wonderful performance in this very difficult concerto. He outdoes Isaac Stern's performance in the commercial recording for Columbia Records with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy. I also like Heifetz's spectacular performance of the Mendelssohn violin concerto with the NBC Symphony under Toscanini, taken from a broadcast concert in Studio 8-H.
sallyrob101 1 year ago
@sallyrob101 The sound is bad, but not Heifetz. Every note he touched turned to gold. He had no flaws. He was the most remarkable violinist in history. He was far ahead of technology. The only noise I hear comes from the orchestra, which I mentally have to tune out. It is really a very disgusting recording.
unclejuniorsoprano 1 year ago
The performance by Heifetz is quite good. I don't think the Boston Symphony was playing their best, possibly because Koussevitzky was nearing the end of his life and there were instances where he simply didn't conduct as well as he had. However, it is interesting that this is actually taken from a concert performance, presumably in Boston's Symphony Hall.
sallyrob101 1 year ago
It also shows the greatness of Prokofiev!!! (:
Jedum 1 year ago
The Centennial Symphony Orchestra was actually the Boston Symphony Orchestra. When RCA released Boston Symphony recordings on their Camden label they used the name Centennial for the orchestra, so that this would compete with current Boston Symphony releases on the regular RCA Victor label. This is definitely a very fine performance of an extremely difficult violin concerto; once again it shows the greatness of Jascha Heifetz.
sallyrob101 2 years ago
Thank you for sharing a great music.
The elegant pitch touches my heart !!
Thank you again.
spitzenleiter 3 years ago 2