Jascha Heifetz

[stevie]

i recently started listening to his Vitali(sp) chaconne....

OMGWTF FKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

omg, its awesome

im a big fan of heifetz, and i hate when he is referred to as cold, the emotion that he communicates with certain subtleties in his playing almost suffoctaes me, and makes me shiver, just awesome....true.

[rob47]

I've only heard his prokofiev and sibelius concertos both incredible
I want to get more

[rob47]

wow this CHACONNE is so soulful

[prometheus]

I think he is the violinist with the best technique.

And otherwise we still have Perlman, Menuhin and Kremer.

[yamagal]

I've only heard his prokofiev and sibelius concertos both incredible
I want to get more

What recording of the Sibelius do you have?  I'd like to get the album if available.  I have Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg's Sibelius -- it is magnificent.  Would love to hear Heifetz' interpretation as well.

[thalbergmad]

There is a very old Hollywood film called "they shall have music" in which he plays the Saint-Saens- Introduction and Rondo in its entirety.

If you ever come across a copy, buy it as it is the most amazing violin playing.

[trunks]

i recently started listening to his Vitali(sp) chaconne....

OMGWTF FKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

omg, its awesome

im a big fan of heifetz, and i hate when he is referred to as cold, the emotion that he communicates with certain subtleties in his playing almost suffoctaes me, and makes me shiver, just awesome....true.

Until you have heard Fritz Kriesler and David Oistrakh.

[ahinton]

Until you have heard Fritz Kriesler and David Oistrakh.

No - also afterwards! I yield to none in my immense admiration for both Kreisler and Oistrakh père, but Heifetz was nevertheless one of the greatest all-time masters of the violin in the 20th century. Not only that, it seems that, once he had decided that his time as a public performing violinist was up (i.e. some time before he died) and he instead began to conduct masterclasses, he would (at least as legend would have it) from time to time dismiss certain violinists' pianists during these classes and play himself; apparently, he could play the piano parts of all of Beethoven's sonatas for violin and piano from memory. I do not know if there are bootleg recordings of him doing any of this (although not for want of trying to find out!), but apparently Rubinstein long ago considered Heifetz to be a fine pianist. The oft-cited "coldness" of Heifetz's violin playing, if true, would demonstrate to me that I must have a pair of seriously defective and unidentifiable organs in place of ears; to me, Heifetz's cerebral and emotional burning power is a very rare and powerful phenomenon indeed. Heifetz and Michelangeli were two of the most important players to me as formative influences on the way I wanted to compose; they each had an extraordinary ability to engage every faculty of the listener to the fullest, yet it always seemed to me that their respective desired end result was to draw attention to the composer's music rather than to their performances of it. Michelangeli, incidentally, was apparently quite a proficient violinist in his youth (but then so, by some accounts, was Alkan a century or more earlier...)

Best,

Alistair

[klavierkonzerte]

personally i dodn't like his playing, he plays fast with no emotion.
there this unpleasant  (ccchhhhtsscchhhhh) scratchy sound to his tone.

personally i love the playing of grumiaux, his recording of mozart violin concertos is phenomenal, melstine, my favorite violinist, and oistrakh, he has and amazing soaring tone.

[Waldszenen]

Oistrakh > Heifetz

[ahinton]

This has inevitably descended into mere airing of comparatives based on personal opinion alone. All of the violinists mentioned - Grumiaux, Milstein, Kreisler, Oistrakh, etc. - were among the handful of top-flight 20th century players of the instrument, as was Heifetz. Frankly, I cannot grasp what it is about Heifetz'a playing that could possibly come across as devoid of emotion, of all things, but it is clearly just a matter of personal taste.

Best,

Alistair

[Waldszenen]

Frankly, I cannot grasp what it is about Heifetz'a playing that could possibly come across as devoid of emotion, of all things, but it is clearly just a matter of personal taste.

No offence mate, but frankly I cannot grasp what it is about your style of writing that takes a giant paragraph to say what can be summarised in about two sentences. 

[leucippus]

I liked Menuhin, Milstein, Kreisler, Oistrakh, and some others. 

I never cared for Heifetz.  Just not my style at all.  Especially when it came to playing the Bach Partitas and Sonatas. 

Moreover, I don't care what anyone says, Hilary Hahn has them all beat and she's only in her 20's.  I was buying all the great violinist's CDs at like $15 a clip.  I picked one up of Hilary Hahn for about $8 and she turned out to be the best of them all.   I hardly even listen to the others now.  Hahn has them all beat!  She not merely just as good, she's BETTER!  Better than all of them!

[ahinton]

No offence mate, but frankly I cannot grasp what it is about your style of writing that takes a giant paragraph to say what can be summarised in about two sentences. 

No offence taken, "mate"(?!), but maybe you should just try that little bit harder - or maybe you should yourself "summarise" (was I intending in any case to "summarise? - this is your term, not mine)
1. the comparison with Kreisler and Oistrakh
2. Heifetz the pianist, especially after he ceased public violin playing
3. Heifetz's masterclasses
4. Rubinstein's opinion
5. The emotional power of Heifetz's violin playing
6. The effect of Heifetz's playing on me in my early days as a composer
7. The comparison with Michelangeli
8. The fact of Michelangeli's and Alkan's youthful prowess as violinists
and decide how many sentences you might sensibly require in order to do this. Of course, I could have split what I wrote into several paragraphs, but that's another matter...

Best,

Alistair

[Waldszenen]

Oh for God's sake, go eat a dictionary, professor.

[prometheus]

Which ones taste best?

[ahinton]

Oh for God's sake, go eat a dictionary, professor.

I'm not sure that you should presume my belief in God (and I'm not declaring one way or the other), but should one deduce from your remark that there are also words in that post that you didn't underastand?

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Which ones taste best?

The ones made from paper from trees in the forest where "Waldszenen" makes a scene, one may suppose; that said, whatever the relative merits of their taste, however, they might be a little short on content...

Best,

Alistair

[prometheus]

Maybe bamboo ones. With soy sauce.

[ahinton]

Maybe bamboo ones. With soy sauce.

Never tried one of those. I wonder if some Wald-mushrooms would go well with it. What wine would you recommend with it?

Best,

Alistair

[prometheus]

I don't drink alcohol so I have no idea.

Maybe straight forward Olympian wine and Ambrosia, whatever that is.

[ahinton]

I don't drink alcohol so I have no idea.

Maybe straight forward Olympian wine and Ambrosia, whatever that is.

Well - that sounds nice enough to detract from the indigestibility of the dictionary, I imagine. Now - if anyone has more to say about Jascha Heifetz, let's get swiftly back to that!

Best,

Alistair

[pianowelsh]

heifetz, awrsome. The two are synonimous.

[mephisto]

Is Heifetz technic better than violinist these days? I ask this because I can't play the violin and therefor lack any means of judgement.

Anyway I love Heifetz, he was definetly not cold, just extremely good. Just like with Michelangeli, many people don't like perfection.

[jakev2.0]

Imo, Heifetz is a greater violinist than Michelangeli was a pianist.

[leucippus]

many people don't like perfection.

I think what's more true is that everyone simply has a different idea of what perfection means to them.

Heifetz simply wasn't what I look for in a great violinist.  I don't think of him as being cold.  He simply wasn't my style of player that's all.   In fact, for listening pleasure choose him last.  Simply because I don't care for his style.  I make no judgments at all on his technique.  I just enjoy listening to other violinists better.   And, for me, that's the bottom line.

In my mind Hilary Hahn's playing represents "perfection" to me. Given the choice of who to listen to I would choose Hahn over Heifetz any day.  Therefore I must think she's better right?

[mephisto]

I am no expert on violin players but Hahn's playing sound amazing to me aswell.

[Waldszenen]

She is a good violinist, nice clean tone... nothing on the old 20th century violinists, of course (sort of like comparing Yundi Li to Arrau or something).

[Waldszenen]

Is Heifetz technic better than violinist these days?

Yes.

[emill]

I love Heifetz and Isaac Stern.....

but the trouble with comparing one performer with another
and this is so true with music is that it often boils down
to personal taste and preference.

Just like, which is tastier? .. chicken or beef?

[jakev2.0]

I think the best violinists around today are Gil Shaham and James Ehnes (go Canada!) 

[dnephi]

Joshua Bell is technically the best violinist today, and musically is the best, according to the professional violinists I know.   Heifetz is fantastic.

[Waldszenen]

Hmm. He's not bad (in my opinion) but Anne-Sophie Mutter is far more advanced, technically and musically.

[pianolist]

You know, you read these posts, and on average you can tell the age of the person writing from how subtle a command they have of the English language. Now, you can laugh at the dear professor, but he is very accurate in his choice of words. You will tell me that accuracy doesn't matter, and that it is the expressed thought that counts. Bullshit! You just adore accuracy in piano and violin playing, don't you? English is a language, just like music.

Anyway, what's so special about being succinct? Is verbosity a sin against the Holy Ghost? Webern didn't write violin concertos.

By the way, Kreisler alone can make me cry. He's the one I want to hug. He gets my vote, mate.

[klavierkonzerte]

Joshua Bell is technically the best violinist today, and musically is the best, according to the professional violinists I know.   Heifetz is fantastic.

what professionals told you that?

most contemporary violinists, such as hilary hahn , i loooveeeeeeee her, sarah chang, kremer, gil shaham, midori,  llya gringolt anne-sophie mutter, are all better than him technically.

his playing is perfectly suited for slow expressive pieces.

[klavierkonzerte]

i forgot to mention that joshua bell couldn't record paganini concertos.

[ahinton]

Speaking as a Scotsman, I have found it hard to resist urging interested forum members to check out page 10 of the current (December 2006) edition of BBC Music Magazine, with its photograph, originally published (so we are told) in The Sphere magazine (London) in July 1923, of a certain easily recognisable musician apparently playing the bagpipes under which is the caption M. Jascha Heifetz Discovers the Bagpipes, followed by an article that begins "The young Russian violinist, who has been in London, has discovered the bagpipes. "The music of the bagpipes...(he said)..." When I saw this, I did momentarily wonder if the November weather outside here was just a myth and that it was really 1 April, but...

Go find and figure!...

Best,

Alistair