Favorite Heifetz recordings

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I've never made much of an effort to collect his recordings, but anyone who is interested in violin music, historic recordings, and good sounding LPs as I am is bound to end up with a lot of Jascha Heifetz' recordings given enough time. I don't know how many I have, but I'd guess a couple dozen on LP and CD.

I have found that I really like about half of them and am left completely cold on the other half. No one would ever doubt his technical prowess, but I find that some of his recordings tend to emphasize this aspect of the music too much for my taste, Nevertheless, he has also made many recordings that I would sorely miss, if I were to be without them.

While there are some concerto performances I like a great deal, I think he was even better when playing chamber music with other great musicians like Piatigorsky, Feuermann, Rubinstein, et al. I've heard others say that his personality was too overwhelming in such settings, but I don't hear that at all.

Anyway, my favorites are:

Bruch Concerto, with Malcom Sargent, cond. (RCA Victor Living Stereo). This may be my favorite Heifetz recording of all time. The incredible sound quality  carries some weight here!

Brahms Concerto, with Serge Koussevitsky (RCA Victor LCT), recording from 1940 (I think)

Schubert Piano Trio No, 1, with Rubinstein and Feuermann (RCA Victor LCT, LVT) A very beautiful performance of some very beautiful music

Mozart Divertimento for String Trio, with Primrose and Feuermann (RCA Victor LCT). Gorgeous sound and music from this 1930s performance

Brahms Concerto for Violin and Cello, with Feuermann, Ormandy (RCA Victor LCT) This performance really has it all--fireworks, passion, lyricism. It's enough to make me even like Ormandy (well, sort of)

Rozsa Concerto. (RCA Victor LM/LSC) Well, I don't have any other versions to compare it to, but I still enjoy it a great deal.

Despite my dislike of some of his recordings, examples such as these serve to make him one of my favorite violinists (somewhere in my top 10)

What are your favorites? Is it worthwhile to explore the recordings on Decca and Brunswick??

[Rabin_Fan]

Hi XB,

Greetings from Malaysia. He is better in the Romantic repertoire for me. I have lots of his CDs.

1) Decca Brunswick/RCA/DG - 1944-46 - well worth getting - best mastering is the DG plus a track that was never released till now.
2) Sinding Suite - Stunning playing in the opening movement.
3) Spohr VC 8 - with cuts in the tutti but uniquely Heifetz at his best
4) Korngold VC - more movie magic from Jascha
5) Tchaikovsky VC - with Barbirolli (more Romantic), with Reiner (very virtuosic)
6) Bruch Scottish Fantasy - one of the top versions of this gorgeous music
7) Vieuxtemps VC 5 - another stunner
St Saens - Intro & Rondo Cap Op 28 - on a 1939 film - They Shall Have Music - another great version

Many more XB - but these are some of my favourites. Maybe Harry Collier can come up with a few more. Regards, R-F

[Danny]

Anything by that man is worth having.  I especially love his Sibelius VC from the 60's, though.  0:)

[val]

My favorites:

Beethoven 9th Sonata with B. Smith.

Brahms Violin Concerto with Reiner.

And above all, the extraordinary version of Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, also with Reiner.The second movement becomes a moment of pure grace.

[Shrunk]

Bruch Concerto, with Malcom Sargent, cond. (RCA Victor Living Stereo). This may be my favorite Heifetz recording of all time. The incredible sound quality  carries some weight here!

CBC Radio did a series of interviews with Pinchas Zukerman on his favourite violin concertos.  The episode on the Bruch ended being largely a tribute to Heifetz, and Zukerman said he has never performed the piece because he considered Heifetz's performance definitive.

BTW, the CBC series is available on CD and is well worth hearing:

http://www.cbc.ca/concertos/

[carlos]

I've about 70 CD by Jacob (yes, Jacob). Suppose H.C.have
all of it. He should have.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

CBC Radio did a series of interviews with Pinchas Zukerman on his favourite violin concertos.  The episode on the Bruch ended being largely a tribute to Heifetz, and Zukerman said he has never performed the piece because he considered Heifetz's performance definitive.

BTW, the CBC series is available on CD and is well worth hearing:

http://www.cbc.ca/concertos/

Thanks. I actually like Ricardo Odnoposoff's performance on a 10" MHS LP a little better.

And I have a recently-acquired 1950s Columbia LP with the concerto played by Zino Francescatti that I have not listened to yet (and probably won't be able to for some time--my turntable is over 1000 miles away).

[carlos]

IMO, one of the most extraordinary recordings he
ever did was Dohnanyi's Serenade op.10 for string
trio, with Feuermann and Primrose. The virtuosity
of those three monsters is just incredible. To me,
it's one of the best chamber recordings of all time.

[BorisG]

CBC Radio did a series of interviews with Pinchas Zukerman on his favourite violin concertos.  The episode on the Bruch ended being largely a tribute to Heifetz, and Zukerman said he has never performed the piece because he considered Heifetz's performance definitive.

BTW, the CBC series is available on CD and is well worth hearing:

http://www.cbc.ca/concertos/

Maybe his memory is failing. He recorded it in the 1990's with Mehta for RCA. He played it with his Canadian orchestra in 2004 and is planning to do so again in 2008. There may be other examples. I did a very brief websearch.

[Steve]

I would second the Brahms Violin Concerto. His performance finally topped my standard for this work, Isaac Stern.

[Harry Collier]

Maybe his memory is failing. He recorded it in the 1990's with Mehta for RCA. He played it with his Canadian orchestra in 2004 and is planning to do so again in 2008. There may be other examples. I did a very brief websearch.

May be a mis-reading of "the Bruch". Heifetz was famous -- and rightly so -- for his performances of Bruch's Scottish Fantasia.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

So c'mon Harry, what are your favorites?? 

[Harry Collier]

Heifetz was born in 1901. In his fifties, a certain "hardening of the arteries" took place in his playing, and his playing is often better prior to the early 50s. He recorded many pieces many times throughout his recording career which, to all intents and purpose, spanned 1911 to 1961. His later recordings often suffer from poor balance (with Heifetz insisting more and more on a forward balance for himself) and the question of balance also spoils many of his sonata and duo performances (notably, and tragically, the Kreutzer with Moisiewitsch in 1951).

In short salon pieces, Heifetz was incomparable. And, in pretty well everything he played, you understand why he was always considered the King of the Violinists (and still is, by almost all violinists even today). My favourite pieces by Heifetz are many; some of the major contenders are as follows. However, if they are not in my short list, it doesn't mean they aren't good! In the list, the early acoustic recordings show the young Heifetz at his most astonishing (and already fully-formed). To my mind, the list below constitutes "the essential Heifetz". If you have money for only one piece, pick the Largo by Clérambault in the astonishingly good 1934 recording. The piece is technically easy to play; but hearing Heifetz lavish his technique on it, you realise why he inspired such awe and despair in his fellow violinists.

Sinding: Suite (1953)
Acoustic recordings 1917-24
Sibelius: Violin Concerto (Beecham, 1935)
Wieniawski: 2nd Violin Concerto (1935, 1954)
Brahms: Violin Concerto (Szell, NY, 1951 or Koussevitzky, 1939)
Bruch: Scottish Fantasy (1947 or 1961)
Saint-Saens: Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso / Havanaise (Barbirolli, 1935/7)
Saint-Saens: Sonata No.1 in D minor (1967, or 1950)
Clérambault: Largo in C minor (Dandelot) (1934)
Vieuxtemps: 4th Violin Concerto (1935)
Vieuxtemps: 5th Violin Concerto (1947, or 1961)
Beethoven: Violin Concerto (1940 with Toscanini - Naxos, 1955 with Munch)
Mozart: Violin Concerto No.5 (1934, with Barbirolli)
Mozart: Violin Concerto No.4 (1947, with Beecham)
Korngold: Violin Concerto (1947, with Kurtz).
Conus: Violin Concerto (1952)
Spohr: Violin Concerto No.8 (1954)
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto (1937 with Barbirolli, 1950 with Süsskind)
Strauss: E flat sonata (1934)
Glazunov: Violin Concerto (1934, Barbirolli)

Heifetz's favourite? It was rumoured to be his 1934 recording with Barbirolli of the Mozart K 219 concerto. Heifetz always maintained that Mozart was the most difficult music of all to play.

p.s. For those who like easy buying: the eight CDs in the Naxos Great Violinists: Heifetz set are without equal.

[Que]

Harry, compliments for your expertly list.
I agree with your remarks on Heifetz' playing through the years - I also prefer his earlier recordings.
As far as the items that are new to me- I'll certainly seek them out.
Thanks for the recommendations! 

Q

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Conus: Violin Concerto (1952)

Are you a Conusseur?

Thanks for the list. I'll surely start picking up some of those Naxos and any of the LPs I can find with performances you mention.

[Que]

New release - €40 at jpc.

Detailed listing of content (with the names of composers!  ) at CDuniverse.
Samples at Amazon.com.

Quite a lot of his Bach - which I do not particularly care for, other than that it seems like a good starter's kit.

Q

[FredT]

The Tchaikovsky concerto with Reiner and the CSO. Absolutely breathtaking and the clarity of the playing is amazing. Heifetz phrases like a violinistic Frank Sinatra.

[Cosi bel do]

I thought this discussion could be usefully continued here :

I wish that there was an enormous Hilary Hahn set!       Frankly, Heifetz does not do much for me (I know - heresy), but it leaves me cold most of the time. There are a number of other violinists that allow me to find a different resonance with the music. Perhaps it has to do with the warmth of the recording. The Heifetz recordings have a somber soundscape (if that makes any sense?). Of course, this is all very subjective.

   I think I know what  you mean, although I haven't played that much Heifetz.  When he plays the giants, with an awesome orchestra behind him it is good, of course, but I don't generally feel it's him that's making the difference.

I share this mixed feeling about Heifetz. I very much prefer Francescatti, Ferras, Oistrakh, followed by Milstein and Kogan, to speak only of old (ie dead) artists.
By the way, I wish there were a complete Francescatti set on Sony !

Interesting, Ubu. Do you really play a lot from it? Do you find his later stuff as good as his earlier?

   As I mentioned, I only have a couple of his discs with orchestra, and don't play them that much. However, I forgot that I have his chamber box, and like that a lot.  Love even.
     I watched a documentary about him "God's Fiddler", which is very good.  Although it doesn't try to tear him down or anything (far from it), afterwards I found myself a bit prejudiced against him and his music.  He was such an odd bird, in a cold fish sort of way (to shamelessly mix metaphors ).  In Rubinstein's 2 volumes of autobiography (great reading!) he makes fun of Heifetz some (they were friends).  He says he didn't really love the music enough--but then that is kind of Rubinstein's stock criticism against his "rivals" (he says that several times in regards to Horowitz).

Some of Heifetz recordings are great, but usually more from a technically-perfect point of view (I mean, of the violin + the orchestra + the acoustics) than for his personality. I find his playing cold and not enthusiastic or sensitive enough, I don't feel much when hearing Heifetz. Still better than 99% of today's violinists though (among the 1%, I'd count Tetzlaff, Hahn and Ibragimova for sure).

I prefer Heifetz as a violinist to Rubinstein as a pianist, though

Ha, a friend presented me with the two Rubinstein books last year, but I've not read a page in 'em yet ... I tend to prefer early Heifetz - the concertos with Barbirolli ... as the big sucker was gone, I went for the ICON (terrific!) and the Sony sets (Plays Mozart, Plays Great Violin Concertos). The "Sinfonia concertante" with Primrose is otherworldly! As for the duplications of repertoire between the ICON and the Great Concertos, I prefer(red) the earlier ones in general.
But then I also got the Heifetz/Piatigorsky box and I love all that chamber music!
Also think highly of the Bach solo ... and of the early trio with Rubinstein/Feuermann.

So there's indeed lots of Heifetz I love (though for Beethoven sonatas I tend to go elsewhere, Heifetz' piano players aren't that much to my liking usually.

Btw, the same friend who gave me the Rubinstein books received my four smaller Heifetz boxes after I got the big one ...

Furthermore, anyone calling Heifetz "cold" should check if s/he's still alive himself (not picking any fights, but yeah, Rubinstein is another BIG favourite of mine )

You are definitely not alone. I think his star has fallen a lot over the past several decades. The concertos he did for RCA overall just aren't that good (some are better than others of course). Cosi said "cold," I'd say "impatient." What I've heard of his earlier recordings are markedly better, but those are not as widely disseminated, at least stateside.

Not such a fall. Someone polled top violinists a few years ago, and Heifetz still came out on top. I have very mixed feelings myself. Some stuff is top notch. Some is quite bad.  I dislike the Heifetz Piatigorsky box because heifetz is consistently bad I think.

Well, I'll speak up for Heifetz... A lot of people describe him as "cold" and "technical", but every time I hear that old saw, I roll my eyes. I have the Heifetz big box and it is full of technical virtuosity for sure... but it is also packed with passion. Heifetz could phrase like no one else. His violin sings. I think sometime in the distant past, some critic made up the comment about him being all technique and no soul to apologize for another violinist who had lousy technique, and everyone has been repeating it like parrots ever since.

That big Heifetz box is an ocean of wonderful, unique performances. It totally changed my view of more than one violin concerto. I used to be happy with versions by other violinists, but now I don't want to listen to anything buy Heifetz.

The same thing exists with Rubinstein. Everyone says that he is conservative and focused on perfection over expression, but that box puts the lie to that.

A truly great recording that people seem to ignore because it is so unHIP

I have that LP set. My first recording of the solo Bach sonatas/partitas.

Some of my favorite Heifetz recordings:

Beethoven piano trio op. 1 No. 1
Mozart Sinfonia Concertante K. 364 with Primrose and Izler Solomon conducting
Mozart Violin Concerto No. 4 with Sargent conducting
Bruch Scottish Fantasy

I wonder if those calling Heifetz "cold" and making blanket judgements have listened to these recordings.

Well, there is certainly a lot of parroting, and going with the flow, in music criticism. That may have worked in favor of Heifetz more than against him. I just read a review of his Mendelssohn with Munch praising the "hair-trigger precision" in the finale which indicates the reviewer either didn't listen to it, or is unqualified to comment on that issue. It is the most out-of-sync movement of any concerto recording in my collection. In general, that recording sounds as though Heifetz's top priority was to get out of the studio as quickly as possible -- a much worse flaw IMO than any brief lapses of intonation or tone by other violinists. It's a shame because I have no doubt that he was capable of much better than this.

The Beethoven (also with Munch) is similar, maybe not quite as bad, but still: impatient.

Among his late recordings, I think he was at his best when sharing the spotlight (chamber music, K.364, Brahms Double).

His earlier recordings are a different matter altogether. Still not my favorite recordings, but it is easy to hear why he got so popular in the first place.

Now preparing my answer

[Cosi bel do]

So, about all that, first, I think it would be good, when discussing Heifetz, if we avoided saying about other opinions that they come from people who repeat what others say and must not even have heard Heifetz play, etc. Because this could be said by those who criticize Heifetz coldness as much by those "defending" him.

I said too cold and based only on technical demonstration. I like Pat B's description of Heifetz as "impatient" because it is also one of the characteristics of many of his recordings. All this applies essentially to his concerto recordings, but also, sometimes, to the chamber music or solo recordings.
Again, I don't dislike Heifetz, I just think he has not left really many very good recordings, just good ones, recommendable for reasons that are his own technical brilliance, and the general quality of recording he particularly benefited among violinists. Either one or both of these reasons manke many of his recordings really pleasant and among the very good versions available of many pieces, mainly among the romantic repertoire.
Of course, there are really great recordings among all that : yes, the Sinfonia Concertante with Primrose is great, I happen to love it (along with Bach's double with Friedman, which I find irresistible despite being really outdated on so many aspects). But apart from that, in most of all these recordings that are frequently cited as references, and got many awards for each new release, I generally find that Heifetz is overrated.

It is not rare that a violinist is overrated, even during their lifetime. It was the case for Yehudi Menuhin, a great man, a great artist, but who had been declining since the 1950s. It has also been the case of Isaac Stern for years, then since he died he has been almost forgotten, I mean, I rarely see any tribute to him, and his contribution to 20th century repertoire in particular should be more frequently underlined.
The case of Heifetz is particular, though, because he was a legend without equivalent at the violin, except probably Kreisler before him, and, even before that, Paganini himself. But truly, if Heifetz was technically brilliant in his prime and remained a very solid violinist at least until his shoulder operation, I don't think he was as exceptional as the legend says. All I hear are really good, neat, sometimes almost perfect readings, but frequently lacking emotional depth (in other words, cold) and, more generally, without much tension, and lacking a real sense of discourse or speech.
For instance, it is very pleasurable to hear him in the most well-known concertos of the repertoire, or in Bach's S&P... But compare him with Oistrakh in Tchaikovsky, Sibelius or Glazunov, or with Francescatti in Mendelssohn or Tchaikovsky, or Bruch, or with Ginette Neveu in Brahms, or with Ferras, and a few others... Each time, frankly, Heifetz's performance ends up seeming more pale, lacklustre and less interesting than initially remembered.

Of course there are excellent recordings among Heifetz's. But I don't think I would agree with those saying it is because he was better at a younger age (except for very late, post-1962 recordings). I don't even think I would admit liking his 50s recordings less that those of the previous decades.
The main explanation for this "overrated" vision of Heifetz might be that many of us (even I) have heard some of all these masterworks for the first time by Heifetz, and keep a fond memory of these recordings, that remain, as I say, good and enthusiastic performances. Still, of course, this does not mean that there can't be better ways to do it.

As I said, I'm not especially discussing his chamber music performances. But many of his best recordings in this repertoire give exactly the same impression than I just described. The Ravel trio for instance, it is surely an excellent reading, very pleasant, almost perfect when you hear it, but lacking a certain spirit... There are many worse, really worse recordings, but a few ones surpass it in atmosphere, musical speech, well call it as you want but I guess I made my point quite clearly. Same thing for Schubert, or Tchaikovsky's trios...

[Old Listener]

So, about all that, first, I think it would be good, when discussing Heifetz, if we avoided saying about other opinions that they come from people who repeat what others say and must not even have heard Heifetz play, etc. Because this could be said by those who criticize Heifetz coldness as much by those "defending" him.

It would be good if we can avoid generalizations and comment on specific recordings.

If you don't like Heifetz's recordings, say so briefly (once) and leave the thread to those who can suggest recordings that others might want to hear.

I don't expect to love every recording by any performer.  I don't find it useful to dwell on the performances that are misses for me or to hear at length about performances that someone else dislikes.  I get much more value from hearing about performances that other like.