The Violin Concerto
came after Schelomo and the Suite
Hébraïque. It was premiered
by Szigeti in 1938 with the Cleveland
Orchestra under Mitropoulos. The work
was slow in the writing. Its earliest
beginning came from a phrase that Bloch
wrote down when studying native American
music in New Mexico. In 1909 Bloch had
been conductor for the young Szigeti
in a performance of the Mendelssohn
concerto - surely being reminisced at
13:58 in the first movement of this
recording of the concerto. Szigeti became
a celebrity champion of Bloch’s music
and recorded the Violin Concerto with
Munch and the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
in 1939. This has been widely reissued
on CD. It can be heard on Pearl GEMM9938,
Symposium 1226, Lys and more accessibly
on Naxos 8.110973 coupled with the magical
Prokofiev First Concerto (Beecham) [review].
There are two live Szigeti performances
from 1939, one with Mengelberg (Music
& Arts) and another with Beecham
and the LPO which has so far only appeared
on Beecham Society LP WSA-5. Thanks
to Mark Obert-Thorn and others on the
r.m.c.r newsgroup for this discographical
information.
Lefkowitz is up against
various alternative recordings. Roman
Totenberg (one of Lefkowitz’s teachers)
[review]
produced a fine version in 1960 although
the Vanguard reissue is now no longer
available. Lefkowitz is good at the
tense quicksilver of Bloch’s shifting
moods. There is I think more aggression
in Totenberg’s version even though the
orchestral climaxes are better, though
not ideally, handled by Laurel. Intriguing
that in the finale at 6:10 Bloch shows
that he has heard Szymanowski’s First
Violin Concerto.
Speaking from memory
Menuhin’s EMI Classics recording lacked
fire and grip. This is something that
could never be said of Lefkowitz’s way
with the splendidly flammable suites
1 and 2. These will positively knock
listeners off their seats such is their
magnificent forcefulness. They are not
at all cerebral works. The two suites
were written to Menuhin’s commission
in 1957 at Agate Beach, Oregon and the
wildness of that coastline seems to
blend with a luminous, even fierce,
Bachian purity.
The recording of the
Concerto is the handiwork of Anthony
Hodgson and Bob Auger. It shows a wonderful
front-to-back depth, never so vividly
registered as in the first movement
at 2.42. The analogue recording is full
of resonant detail and has an agreeable
warmth that stays the right side of
blurring the focus. That said, the big
brassy statements in the first and last
movement are not really gritty enough.
The recording venue’s ambience is palpable
in the silence that follows the end
of the first movement. The violin overall
is given a Heifetz balance with a very
strong slightly left-hand speaker presence.
As for timbre the violin has a caramel
viscosity - splendidly lithe without
being glutinous. Lefkowitz makes the
instrument dance as it should in the
finale (3:02) momentarily recalling
Rozsa’s warm Hungarian evenings.
Herschel Burke Gilbert's
Laurel label (now under the direction
of John Gilbert) has done more than
any other for Bloch. Recordings issued
by them during the vinyl era are steadily
being reissued on CD. We impatiently
await the Pro Arte Quartet’s box of
the five quartets (LR852-CD). Meantime
this disc though not perfect offers
many rewards and good sound. There’s
no holds barred playing from Lefkowitz
who is well inside the Bloch idiom.
Rob Barnett
Mischa Lefkowitz (violin) 
