Dontaitchicago
2/10/2014 1:23:00 AM
On Wednesday, January 29, 2014 3:03:41 PM UTC-6, David Fox wrote:
> arri bachrach <abachrach1@verizon.net> wrote:
>
> > Two of the most famous violinists of the last century were born on Feb.
>
> > 2, 26 years apart. Kreisler (1875) and Heifetz (1901). My appreciation
>
> > and admiration for the art of violin playing were shaped by these two
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> > musicians (in totally different ways)
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> > I grew up during the the days that Heifetz reigned supreme in the violin
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> > world, and for good reason. The technique, the overall virtuosity, the
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> > absolute (almost) perfect intonation. Nowadays we have quite a few
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> > violinists who can match Heifetz's accuracy but there is a certain élan
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> > and fire to his playing that cannot be duplicated. All of this made a
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> > great impression on me during my teens......
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> > In my home we had Kreisler's later recording of the Mendelssohn concerto
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> > (78s) which made little positive impact on me. Obvious slips and
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> > intonation problems and none of the virtuosity and excitement of Heifetz's playing........
>
> > Then the shocking surprise of my musical life. In the CCNY music library
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> > was an album of the Grieg C minor sonata with Rachmaninoff. I was
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> > intensely curious to hear R.'s playing....... there was very little of it
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> > on the radio and every so often they would play some Kreisler, mostly
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> > short pieces, a concerto here and there which I basically ignored.
>
> > As soon as I heard the first few phrases from the violin, I was stunned..
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> > I had never heard anything like that before. All the previous Kreisler
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> > recordings that I had heard were made in his 60s (he was already past his
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> > prime by then). The tone, the incredible variable vibrato, the phrasing,
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> > the various slides, how he tapered his notes, how no matter how softly he
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> > played he maintained a full sound, the tension of the muscial line,etc..
>
> > All this for me was a miracle. I quickly realized that Heifetz, my former
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> > hero was a musical midget compared to Kreisler. The slow movt of the
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> > sonata was overwhelming in its beauty. I came home and made up my mind
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> > that I was going to find more of these recordings....
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> > I spent the next number years rummaging through bins of old 78s in one
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> > particular bookstore in downtown Manhattan and other locations and by the
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> > time I was through I had an almost complete collection of his 78s, some
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> > dating back to 1908.
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> > I hope some RMCR members will go to youtube and share the pleasures of
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> > discovery like I did way back......... the Grieg sonata is there plus
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> > many other recordings.
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> >
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> > AB
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>
>
> Agreed.
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>
>
> Anything by Kreisler prior to 1930 is unconditionally wonderful. After that
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> date there are more trade offs involved. I recommend the BMG box of his
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> complete Victor recordings, along with the various Biddulph/Pearl/Naxos
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> issues of his 1920s recordings. Every once on a while - usually on Sunday
>
> mornings - I put the Victor collection on shuffle play. Amazing to realize
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> many of these recordings are 100+ years old, yet still they communicate.
>
>
>
> DF
Due to illness and enforced absence, this is a tardy response to the original and David Fox's posts. I could not agree more strongly about all said there about Fritz Kreisler's playing as it is preserved on records. As a violinist friend said to me years ago, "Kreisler was unique." Like most of us, he only knew Kreisler from records; and certainly like almost everyone, he never heard Kreisler live before 1930 -- which on recordings, I agree, as David wrote, preserves Kreisler playing better than on his recordings that followed. There were a number of reasons for the decline in his playing, including age and (surely) the effects of his being run down by a car in Manhattan.
As only two examples for now, I would cite first Kreisler's circa 1914 acoustical recording of his arrangement of what is called on the record label "Austrian Imperial Hymn" (Haydn's melody also used as the German anthem). Kreisler's playing and his violin sound are stunning. So -- even more so -- is his playing of the first movement cadenza of Beethoven's Concerto in the 1926 Berlin recording conducted his Leo Blech. Like virtually all published 78s, these were single takes, done straight through with no way to edit them; and the beauty of Kreisler's playing, plus -- much, much more -- its projected emotional feeling and communicative power make it, as my friend said, unique.
As Arri wrote in another post, Kreisler's recordings with Rachmaninoff show what a great violinist and, above all, great musician and HUMAN BEING Fritz Kreisler was. And as David wrote, Kreisler's recordings from 1930 and before show it.
Finally: when Kreisler officially retired in 1950 (he might then have been 74 or 75), there was a huge affair in New York City in his honor. Many, many people attended ,and some spoke. Including Bruno Walter. His speech was issued on two 10" 78s. I own them. Among his other words, Walter says of Kreisler "for Fritz Kreisler, making music is like what swimming is for the fishes and flying is for the birds." In other words, nature pure and simple.. The 1930 and before recordings show that.
And, in case it needs to be said, no one could have made Bruno Walter show up for the Kreisler tribute affair and verbally salute him as he did if he hadn't wanted to. Or know how great a musician and violinist Kreisler was.
Don Tait