Heifetz

[Barbirollians]

Been listening to the Sony box of his later recordings . Some of them are autopilot stuff the Mendelssohn for example . I cannot imagine an opening of that concerto going for so little . Others technically breathtaking but still missing the essence of the piece like the Bruch 1 and Scottish Fantasia .

Heifetz seems so much more involved when he has someone to play off such as in chamber music recordings or Piatigorsky or Feuermann in the Brahms Double or with a conductor that stretches him as in Beecham in the 1930s Sibelius recording .

So many of his recordings are so proficient yet cold .

Discuss ?

[pastoralguy]

No, no and NO!

Heifetz is God! Remember that the Bruch 'Scottish Fantasy' was hardly played before Mr. Heifetz because it was so difficult. Mr. H really put that work front and centre.

Too late to write more except that Mr. Heifetz is the player we ALL aspire to be.

[Barbirollians]

Technically I am sure that is the case but the Mendelssohn is like a competition to show how fast he can play it . I know that du Pre was a terrific fan of the Bruch 1 and Scottish Fantasia coupling but it is another example for me of playing I admire but do not love .

[mikealdren]

I agree with PG, the later Bruch concerto (No.1) with Sargent has an amazing burning intensity in the playing that shines through whenever I hear it. Even more than that, listen to the 2nd concerto, the playing is amazing, Heifetz is so deeply involved in the line of the music.

[mikealdren]

Technically I am sure that is the case but the Mendelssohn is like a competition to show how fast he can play it . I know that du Pre was a terrific of the Bruch 1 and Scottish Fantasia coupling but it is another example for me of playing I admire but do not love .

Du Pre? Do you mean Kyung Wha Chung? I agree about the Mendelssohn and it isn't helped by the awful sound of the original LPs, it's a bit better on the latest CDs.

[Barbirollians]

Du Pre? Do you mean Kyung Wha Chung? I agree about the Mendelssohn and it isn't helped by the awful sound of the original LPs, it's a bit better on the latest CDs.

No in Elizabeth Wilson's biography she recalls du Pre insisting on someone listening to the playing in the Heifetz/Sargent Bruch 1 .

[Ferretfancy]

I think that some of the perceived coldness stems from the unfortunate fact that many of his recordings are rather poorly balanced. This particularly applies to the numerous chamber music recordings which he made for RCA. They are very closely recorded in a very dry acoustic, which is a great shame as so many fine performances are there.

A friend of mine who later played in the RPO told me that when he was in his teens he heard a Heifetz recital on the South Bank, and walked all the way to Hendon after the concert without really being aware of his surroundings!

[Barbirollians]

I find it much less in the chamber records and indeed perhaps most of all I don't find it in his lovely recording of the Elgar concerto .

I must dig out the CDs of his pre war records especially with Barbirolli . I haven't played them for a long time and they may be a corrective to the view so far from the Sony box .

[richardfinegold]

I think that some of the perceived coldness stems from the unfortunate fact that many of his recordings are rather poorly balanced. This particularly applies to the numerous chamber music recordings which he made for RCA. They are very closely recorded in a very dry acoustic, which is a great shame as so many fine performances are there.

A friend of mine who later played in the RPO told me that when he was in his teens he heard a Heifetz recital on the South Bank, and walked all the way to Hendon after the concert without really being aware of his surroundings!

I tend to agree with Barbs on this one. Heifetz RCA recordings inspire more respect than love. I've had them on lp and CD but have rarely reached for them in the past several years.
If the original venue for recording was the issue, these have been rereleased and remastered umpteen times, so presumably someone must have gotten it right. Many of these recordings were made with Reiner in Chicago, and the other Reiner recordings of that age have been wonderfully remastered--see Pictures at an Exhibition, the R. Strauss recordeings, Scherezade, etc. The other major venue was Boston with Munch, and while the non Heifetz material of that era isn't sounding as impressive as the Reiner, it is certainly good. I think the issue was more the fiddler. He sounds cold and impersonal, no matter how technically proficient. I've heard live Heifetz material from the Doremi label from the 40s and 50s that doesn't make him sound that way. Maybe he just didn't like the studio environment at that stage of his career, or perhaps he was cranky after clashing with superstar conductors. The Doremei recordings are all with relative non entities on the podium

[Conchis]

It's been a long time since I listened to his concerto recordings, but the chamber music box on RCA is excellent, imo, full of deeply felt performances.

[PJPJ]

No, no and NO!

Heifetz is God! Remember that the Bruch 'Scottish Fantasy' was hardly played before Mr. Heifetz because it was so difficult. Mr. H really put that work front and centre.

Too late to write more except that Mr. Heifetz is the player we ALL aspire to be.

Indeed - compare the stereo RCA recording (the slow movement is a single take, I understand) with this 1949 recording with Beecham.

Private Walker plays Mendelssohn

[BBMmk2]

Maybe it's the sheer virtuosity of Heifetz that some people think he could have been on auto pilot?

[Barbirollians]

Not sure about that BBM - funnily enough the CDs in the box I have enjoyed most have been the Mozart CD including an invigorating K364 with William Primrose and the Glazunov- rather than the big romantic concertos .

[Barbirollians]

It may be unfair but it seems so often to my ears that Heifetz in the concerto repertoire is most at home breathing life into less exciting music - the CD I have just bought for a couple of quid of the Bruch 2 , Conus and Wieniawski 2 seems to make the point . The Conus seems far more interesting in his hands than anybody else's , The Bruch 2 fizzes and the Wieniawski 2 is jaw dropping one imagines this is how the composer might have made it sound .

[mikealdren]

I certainly agree about that CD, the Bruch is enough to convince me that it's a really fine work. However I also love many of his recordings of the standard repertory including some of his Bach and Mozart.