GREAT VIOLINISTS - HEIFETZ
Henri VIEUXTEMPS Violin Concerto
No. 4
Heifetz/LPO/Barbirolli - rec 14 Mar 1935
Henri VIEUXTEMPS Violin Concerto
No. 5
Heifetz/LSO/Sargent - rec 8 Nov 1947
Camille SAINT-SAENS Introduction and
Rondo Capriccioso
Heifetz/LPO/Barbirolli - rec 18 Mar 1935
Camille
SAINT-SAENS
Havanaise
Heifetz/LSO/Barbirolli - rec 9 Apr 1937
Pablo SARASATE
Ziegeunerweisen
Heifetz/LSO/Barbirolli - rec 9 Apr 1937
Franz WAXMAN Carmen
Fantasy
Heifetz/RCA Victor Orch/Donald Voorhees
NAXOS Historical 8.110943
[76.53]
Crotchet
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The two Vieuxtemps concertos take up more than half of the playing time of
this bulging disc. They are flighty showpieces, it is true, but their musical
ideas are under-nourished and little stays with you despite the bathfuls
of tone poured into them by Heifetz. I should not be too hard on them. The
scherzo of No. 4 is not half bad and there is some feeling in the first movement
of the Fifth Concerto which, for the whole concerto, only plays for a couple
of minutes over the quarter hour. Does No. 5 seem better because it is shorter?
Saint-Saens has never been in the same musically starved category as Vieuxtemps,
at least not in the shorter works for violin and orchestra (the three concertos
are of a piece with the Vieuxtemps, I am afraid). Heifetz dispatches the
two favourites of the 78 and LP era (when did you last hear them in concert?)
with suaveness and invulnerable technique. He might, later in his career,
have smothered Havanaise - draining it of any humanity. In 1937 he
was still able to infuse the music with playfulness as well as warming allure.
Much the same can be said of his I&RC. What a pity he did not
take an interest in the too little heard Caprice Andalou which is
every bit as good as the two works here. The Ziegeunerweisen - literally
'Gypsy Tunes' - rolls its eyes, shivers, smooches and accelerates in showers
of sparks. Waxman, with Heifetz, one of the Californian elite, was commissioned
by the violinist to produce this work which gave Heifetz the access to Carmen's
glorious tunes. No doubt with Heifetz a senior partner the line and orchestration
were adjusted as they went along to emphasise the fiddler's faultless tone
and elegantly dancing fireworks. It is in good company with the Saint-Saens
and Sarasate.
Heifetz collectors who have not fallen for much higher priced versions in
the past will not and need not hesitate.
While the Vieuxtemps pieces really are pretty thin, musically speaking, the
other pieces go down a treat. Prize tracks - Havanaise and the uproarious
and outrageous Waxman.
Superb notes by Tully Potter who does not shrink from taking a pugnacious
stance. Mark Obert-Thorn continues his attentive work in the service of the
music and the avoidance of artificiality. Expect some hiss and crackle but
expect also to forget it pretty soon.
Rob Barnett
