Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Niccolo Paganini :: Bach: Concertos; Mozart: Sonata, K.454; etc.

The Heifetz Paradox

Jeffrey Lipscomb | Sacramento, CA United States | 05/22/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Heifetz was a great fiddler - no question. Near-flawless intonation, precise rhythm, polished tone, and a supreme ease in handling fast tempos: for many, Heifetz is the supreme violinist. I once admired Heifetz and his pyrotechnic wonders, but now his playing strikes me as rather empty. Perhaps it all comes down to just how you define great artistry.My belief is that all great concert performers fall into one of two broad categories: those who use their instruments to play a composer's music, and those who simply use the music to play their instruments. Violinists who belong in the first category -sincere artists whose over-arching goal is to serve the composer and offer up a well thought-out and deeply felt interpretation - include such luminaries as Adolph Busch, Joseph Szigeti, David Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan, Johanna Martzy, and Szymon Goldberg. Such pianists are exemplified by the otherwise very different Artur Schnabel and Sviatoslav Richter. Among conductors and singers, I would single out Furtwangler and Callas, respectively.And then there are those performers who focus on displaying their virtuoso capabilities, with interpretations that are often merely efficient and rather shallow. To my ears, such different conductors as Toscanini, Szell, and Karajan are in this category. Among pianists, Horowitz is perhaps the supreme example. Vocalists like Caruso and Pavarotti are also fairly typical. As for the great violinists, Heifetz strikes me as paramount in putting technical perfection ahead of insightful musicianship.I certainly have no grudge against charismatic showmanship and dazzling execution. I enjoy hearing Michael Rabin's awe-inspiring execution in Paganini's Caprices, and Vasa Prihoda's gypsy-style abandon is utterly hypnotic in most everything he played. But for me, Heifetz has a mere surface glitter that simply doesn't wear well over time.The Bach Concertos on this CD are cranked out with dutiful accuracy. Just try listening to Oistrakh with Barshai in BMW 1041 - or Martzy and, above all, Busch in BMW 1042 - and you can't help but notice how much of this music's spiritual depth is missing with Heifetz. The Mozart K. 454 is a rather faceless affair - was there ever a more anonymous piano accompanist than Brooks Smith? Heifetz here reminds me of those high school beauty queens who surround themselves with plain girlfriends. By contrast, Arthur Grumiaux and Clara Haskil (M&A 860) not only offer a truly engaging collaboration, but superior pianism and better fiddling in the bargain. Heifetz executes the Paganini with little of Rabin's exuberance. Heifetz plays the Vitali Chaconne beautifully, but without Oistrakh's heart (BMG). I will always admire Heifetz with Munch in the Prokofiev 2nd Violin Concerto. But even there, spend just a few minutes with Kogan & Cameron, or the earlier version with Kondrashin, and you will discover that there can be more warmth and passion in this music. Kogan was a great admirer of Heifetz and very nearly matched him in virtuosity. Other violinists weren't always so respectful: Busch once tartly observed that most everything Heifetz played ended up sounding like lukewarm Glazunov.In the end, Heifetz and his fiddling demonstrate a time-worn aesthetic truth: mere technical excellence can never transcend a lack of artistic conviction. For me, a steady diet of Heifetz is like having only marshmallows for dinner."

Firm and never too sweet

Musicus | Oslo, Norway | 09/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am not so lucky that I can trust or distrust one single interpreter on autopilot, always enjoy Heifetz, always dislike Heifetz, always delight in Karajan, always abhor him etc. etc. I happen to love Oistrakh's Beethoven op. 61, I happen to hate Heifetz' Beethoven op. 61; I happen to hate Oistrakh on Bach's violin concertos and I happen to love Heifetz on the same; I happen to love both of them on Brahms op. 77.

Heifetz is inclined to fast tempos. There are pros and cons to any choice of speed. Slow proceedings might feel more analytic, more profound, more lyrical, more sensual, more romantic - or even schmaltzy. Fast tempos might produce great intensity, give a better image of the concept, the shape, the outlines of the music, the overall architecture. Fast proceedings may also feel quite cerebral, ascetic, unaffected, in a positive sense artless, candid, direct, genuine, natural, straightforward and true. Sometimes you feel that the interpreter overshoots the mark by slow tempos, sometimes that he/she misses the mark by too much speed.

Even when I disagree with Heifetz, I don't feel him selfish. There is no mannerism about him. He is true to the music. He is never too sweet, never too romantic or syrupy. And on the other hand; when or if you indulge in sentimentality, please feel free to do so; I do. But if the composer doesn't, Heifetz won't serve me kitsch.



I've bought this CD for the two Bach concertos only. When it comes to Bach, I think elegance and dignity is crucial. Very much of the historical informed performances are quite speedy, and in this sense Heifetz could be hailed as their old godfather. But unlike the lot of HIP-performers, Heifetz has no mannerism, no strange rhythms; he plays straightforwardly and firmly but with long strokes when he feels the music needs it.

Heifetz plays not as fast as Hilary Hahn here - I agree pretty much with her slow & steady Beethoven op. 61, but not with her too speedy Bach-concertos. Hahn wins the race, but Heifetz enjoys it; he is in the energy, the flow of the music, not in some game to win. In the slow movements, Heifetz proves that less may be more; it is really touching. In the fast movements his playing is pure energy.

The sound quality (1953) leaves very much to be desired, especially by the first concerto BWV 1041 in a-minor. Moreover, you get only two Bach concertos here; the double concerto you'll find with much better sound quality (1961) on Amazon search: B00003OP6J. Sound quality or not; both these Heifetz-CDs are unmissable! And don't trust them to be available for ever!



One HIP-performer very much in line with Heifetz is Sigiswald Kuijken; check him out on German Amazon ([...] search: B000026NHZ for samples on real audio, free download possible), better sound than Heifetz, all the concertos on one CD and next to no HIP-mannerisms and HIP-dogmatism. For buying here at Amazon, with no samlpes, search: B000026NHZ. The sound is much better than the bad quality of the samples indicates, yet, unfortunately, Kuijken cannot replace Heifetz, I am sorry for that, not fully replace him. But as Kuijken comes in velvety sound and all three violin concertos on one disk, there is no real competition."

Perfect

Sungwon Kim | 04/24/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is THE GREAST album in Heifets' collection. Not because of Paganini's works or Bach's works, but he played Chaconne composed by Tomaso Antonio Vitali. If you already have a chance to compare Bach's Chaconne and Vitali's one, you know what I am talking. If I remember correct, Heifetz played this Chaconne in his one of early (I mean very early like first or second) perfromance. It's JUST GREAT."