I remember a critic saying " Heifetz does not belong to any particular era, he is his own era." I'm not talking about who is the greatest, I'm saying he is one of a kind, and we will never hear the likes of Heifetz ever again. He is unique.
I don't care what anyone has to say.......... I positively love this!!! Mendelssohn perfected this piece and Heifetz OWNS it!!!!!! Beautiful performance
Maestro Toscanini recommends Cantelli as his successor, which is also reflected in the crispness of his playing. But very unfortunately he died in a plane crash in 1956. This take is one of his few masterpieces. The resolute performance is wonderful despite the confusion over the postwar interpretation. It is regrettable to return that he died in a plane crash.
Heifetz canta e canta. Non è solo técnica. Una tecnica superba. Heifetz cant piú di tutti. Piú di tutti. Tre o quattro minuti meno che tutti gli altri ma sto sicuro che lo stesso Mendelssohn rimaneva estasiato.
If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?” ― Emily Dickinson If I get goosebumps listening to a musical interpretation, I know that it has deeply moved me emotionally. This interpretation is one example.
find this recording is his best of the mendelssohn concerto. convinced me more than the Beecham - recording and the late one. The Toscanini tape has a poor sound quality.
There's a famous story about Heifetz - Cantelli, where JH exacted retribution from Cantelli for trying to take it at HIS speed during the rehearsal, by blasting through it at racehorse speed during the performance - www.jaschaheifetz.org/blogs_morsels3.html. (In one of the Heifetz books it mentions Samuel Chotzinoff being present at the interview with his Dad afterwards and JH being white as a sheet as he was told off, aged 54.) I think Cantelli died young in a tragic accident. Rather unfortunate turn of phrase to say that JH "owns" the Mendelssohn, IMO!! It doesn't strike me as excessively fast and he is even given time to finish the first scale run, unlike in the Beecham recording. The two semiquaver passages are a bit impetuous. But from the applause at the end I can only assume this must BE IT, thanks for posting!
The story you are referring to is not by Chotzinoff, but by Schuyler Chapin. In his book Musical Chairs Chapin dedicates a chapter to Heifetz. The incident with Cantelli probably happened on March 11. 1954, the first of 3 concerts with Heifetz/ Cantelli playing the Mendelsohn. However, the radio broadcast happened on March 14.
Heifetz never played faster than many others to show off! Only because he was convinced it was the better tempo for the music... But for sure, some other musicians can't play as fast as they would if they could, and finally get convinced that their tempo is "more appropriate" to the music... when it is in fact more appropriate to their technical limitations. Just hear the way Heifetz is always telling a clear story with any piece of music, in a very narrative way. Everything is naturally breathing, going forward, sentences after sentences...
I had a violinist friend who, while he was not good enough to be the soloist performing violin concertos, was a first chair in several orchestras over the years. I once asked him to rate the violinists of the recording era - while Paganini may well have been the greatest violinist of all time we have no recordings of his performances and can't compare him to those people whom we have heard - live or recorded. He said, "First there is Heifetz. Then there is everybody else." When I prodded him to rate the everybody elses - not a word - he finally said (2) David Oistrakh whose rich tone was incredible but not applicable to the baroque or classical era, (3) Leonid Kogan, and next, after a considerable drop in talent, (4) Nathan Milstein. and (5) Michael Rabin. When I prodded him further he replied that in all fairness he did not feel that anybody else could be mentioned as being close to them and would not rate them any further. This, one of many recordings I have heard of Heifetz playing the Mendelssohn, certainly validates his analysis. I really wish that he had still been active when I left the insular university world and entered the real world and could finally hear classical performances by many fine soloists who simply don't compare to those five or, for that matter, the great pianists of the 20th century - mostly Josef Hofmann and Sviatoslav Richter, but also many of the other Russian greats - Maria Grinberg (a personal favorite of mine), Emil Gilels, Grigory Ginsburg, Maria Yudina, et al.
+Gerry Rains Your friend's list is not all that different from my favorites list.Maybe there were a few that he had not heard:Ginette Neveu,Yossef Hassid,the young Yehudi Menuhin,Ivri Gitlis, to name a few.What about Enesco and Fritz Kreisler?
Questa esecuzione è molto simile a quella di Toscanini con la NBC. Heifetz corre come sempre e Cantelli non è da meno. Malgrado i tempi è bellissima e straordinaria come quella di Toscanini più tesa e trascinante
Heifetz is bursting at the seams with technique here...but I don't care what all the the apologists say...its too damn fast, and the lyrical beauty of the work is lost in a flurry of notes. All the conductor could do was keep tempo..because all real musicality is obscured in a blaze of violinistic exhibitionism. I love Heifetz usually...not here.
The lyrical beauty of this work demands interpretation. Heifetz gives his own unique take. Have you heard Gould's Goldberg Variations by Bach circa 1955 vs 1981? Each entirely different and each, IMHO, a brilliant interpretation. I consider this concerto by Heifetz to be utterly brilliant.
I agree. It's not that there are not moments of repose, but the fast sections are driven relentlessly. He does the same to the Beethoven ,but I love his Brahms and Tchaikovsky
+John Hunter I agree. I think it has its moments of beauty (esp around 14-16 mins) but it's much too fast. His tone is impeccable, if only he'd draw it out longer in a slow, methodical mediation almost. I am not criticizing, for I am not of his caliber of course, but Yehudi Menuhin's interpretation is much preferred to my ears.
+John Hunter He treats his violin like it's a racing machine. Actually, most racing drivers would have burned the tires clean if they drove at such breakneck tempo. I wonder how the strings weren't on fire when it wasn't over.
I remember a critic saying " Heifetz does not belong to any particular era, he is his own era." I'm not talking about who is the greatest, I'm saying he is one of a kind, and we will never hear the likes of Heifetz ever again. He is unique.
Какая каденция, это же чудо какое-то, просто!)
that is a once in a lifetime performance.
I don't care what anyone has to say.......... I positively love this!!! Mendelssohn perfected this piece and Heifetz OWNS it!!!!!! Beautiful performance
Я думаю, что подобного исполнения концерта. Мендельсона Я больше не услышу. Это уникально и непревзойденно! Браво! 🎶🌿🌺🎶🌿💮🎶🌹🌿🌼🎶🌿💐🎶🌿💐🎶🌿💐🎶🌿
Согласен, прикопаться даже не к чему.
unbelievable expressivness,forming of worlds,sculptures,souls,unmatched
Incredible intonation also. His harmonic and low G string are flawlessly in tune and that's a little unusual. It's a awesome performance.
Maestro Toscanini recommends Cantelli as his successor, which is also reflected in the crispness of his playing. But very unfortunately he died in a plane crash in 1956. This take is one of his few masterpieces. The resolute performance is wonderful despite the confusion over the postwar interpretation. It is regrettable to return that he died in a plane crash.
Heifetz canta e canta. Non è solo técnica. Una tecnica superba. Heifetz cant piú di tutti. Piú di tutti. Tre o quattro minuti meno che tutti gli altri ma sto sicuro che lo stesso Mendelssohn rimaneva estasiato.
Love it 😍
The King ❤️❤️❤️
Bravo-!!!
兩雄相遇，擦出火花。快而不急，令人敬佩。
hearing this upload too me back to when I first heard the record itself sometime in the 1950's. thanks for making it available. .
Ha un che di intenso, affrettato e ansioso che tiene sempre desta l'attenzione!
My gosh. Magnificent.
This recording was new to me,but very god news. Heifetz playes like only he could,what more can i say?Thank You.
Brynjar Hoff
If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?” ― Emily Dickinson
If I get goosebumps listening to a musical interpretation, I know that it has deeply moved me emotionally. This interpretation is one example.
Fue un gran musico violinista, mis respetos jamaas escuche tocar el violin asi, fue lo mejor y me ayudo mucho.
I like this Heifetz performance much more than the one conducted by Toscanini
Questa penso sia una delle migliori interpretazioni del concertone di Mendelssohn, sia per il violinista che per il direttore Cantelli.
Heiftz, simplesmente o melhor!
find this recording is his best of the mendelssohn concerto. convinced me more than the Beecham - recording and the late one. The Toscanini tape has a poor sound quality.
"live" recording for sure. Sorry for the typo.
There's a famous story about Heifetz - Cantelli, where JH exacted retribution from Cantelli for trying to take it at HIS speed during the rehearsal, by blasting through it at racehorse speed during the performance - www.jaschaheifetz.org/blogs_morsels3.html. (In one of the Heifetz books it mentions Samuel Chotzinoff being present at the interview with his Dad afterwards and JH being white as a sheet as he was told off, aged 54.) I think Cantelli died young in a tragic accident.
Rather unfortunate turn of phrase to say that JH "owns" the Mendelssohn, IMO!! It doesn't strike me as excessively fast and he is even given time to finish the first scale run, unlike in the Beecham recording. The two semiquaver passages are a bit impetuous. But from the applause at the end I can only assume this must BE IT, thanks for posting!
The story you are referring to is not by Chotzinoff, but by Schuyler Chapin. In his book Musical Chairs Chapin dedicates a chapter to Heifetz. The incident with Cantelli probably happened on March 11. 1954, the first of 3 concerts with Heifetz/ Cantelli playing the Mendelsohn. However, the radio broadcast happened on March 14.
Mendelssohn played as Beethoven; chacun a son gout!
Good
Heifetz plays everything faster -- maybe just to show off -- but his great talent makes everything sound well in my opinion.
Heifetz never played faster than many others to show off! Only because he was convinced it was the better tempo for the music... But for sure, some other musicians can't play as fast as they would if they could, and finally get convinced that their tempo is "more appropriate" to the music... when it is in fact more appropriate to their technical limitations.
Just hear the way Heifetz is always telling a clear story with any piece of music, in a very narrative way. Everything is naturally breathing, going forward, sentences after sentences...
I had a violinist friend who, while he was not good enough to be the soloist performing violin concertos, was a first chair in several orchestras over the years. I once asked him to rate the violinists of the recording era - while Paganini may well have been the greatest violinist of all time we have no recordings of his performances and can't compare him to those people whom we have heard - live or recorded. He said, "First there is Heifetz. Then there is everybody else." When I prodded him to rate the everybody elses - not a word - he finally said (2) David Oistrakh whose rich tone was incredible but not applicable to the baroque or classical era, (3) Leonid Kogan, and next, after a considerable drop in talent, (4) Nathan Milstein. and (5) Michael Rabin. When I prodded him further he replied that in all fairness he did not feel that anybody else could be mentioned as being close to them and would not rate them any further.
This, one of many recordings I have heard of Heifetz playing the Mendelssohn, certainly validates his analysis. I really wish that he had still been active when I left the insular university world and entered the real world and could finally hear classical performances by many fine soloists who simply don't compare to those five or, for that matter, the great pianists of the 20th century - mostly Josef Hofmann and Sviatoslav Richter, but also many of the other Russian greats - Maria Grinberg (a personal favorite of mine), Emil Gilels, Grigory Ginsburg, Maria Yudina, et al.
Give Ray Chen a listen. Of the new generation of classical performers he's got some great qualities in his performance.
+Gerry Rains Your friend's list is not all that different from my favorites list.Maybe there were a few that he had not heard:Ginette Neveu,Yossef Hassid,the young Yehudi Menuhin,Ivri Gitlis, to name a few.What about Enesco and Fritz Kreisler?
Questa esecuzione è molto simile a quella di Toscanini con la NBC. Heifetz corre come sempre e Cantelli non è da meno. Malgrado i tempi è bellissima e straordinaria come quella di Toscanini più tesa e trascinante
Personally, I think his life recordings (of this E minor violin concerto) in 1930s were better.
Which one?
@Kevin Lam, please share a link for this live recording
Heifetz is bursting at the seams with technique here...but I don't care what all the the apologists say...its too damn fast, and the lyrical beauty of the work is lost in a flurry of notes. All the conductor could do was keep tempo..because all real musicality is obscured in a blaze of violinistic exhibitionism. I love Heifetz usually...not here.
The lyrical beauty of this work demands interpretation. Heifetz gives his own unique take. Have you heard Gould's Goldberg Variations by Bach circa 1955 vs 1981? Each entirely different and each, IMHO, a brilliant interpretation. I consider this concerto by Heifetz to be utterly brilliant.
I agree. It's not that there are not moments of repose, but the fast sections are driven relentlessly. He does the same to the Beethoven ,but I love his Brahms and Tchaikovsky
+John Hunter I agree. I think it has its moments of beauty (esp around 14-16 mins) but it's much too fast. His tone is impeccable, if only he'd draw it out longer in a slow, methodical mediation almost. I am not criticizing, for I am not of his caliber of course, but Yehudi Menuhin's interpretation is much preferred to my ears.
+John Hunter He treats his violin like it's a racing machine. Actually, most racing drivers would have burned the tires clean if they drove at such breakneck tempo. I wonder how the strings weren't on fire when it wasn't over.
Agreed
Лучше не играет никто. И, видимо,не играл. И не будет играть, потому что лучше сыграть просто нельзя!
Too fast!!! I don't like this at all.
not too fast! i like it very much!
Are ur feelings hurt buddy
@@rubydog25 looked like yours were, lol..