Should Mr Gitlis’s artistry – intense/impassioned, eloquent/expressive, and displaying a magnetic combination of rose-in-the-teeth address & golden-age tone – be unfamiliar, then do consider a recent Profil set that gathers together his Vox recordings from the 1950s: including Violin Concertos by Bartók (No.2), Berg, Bruch (G-minor), Hindemith, Mendelssohn (E-minor), Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, with conductors Byrns, Hollreiser, Horenstein, Rosbaud, Strickland and Swarowsky – plus sundry other pieces. Profil PH19056 (4 CDs).
Many Happy Returns to Ivry Gitlis, 98 today.
Happy birthday to the last of the titans of a bygone age .
I have always enjoyed playing these recordings and will do so again today.
Not forgetting the accompanying conductors, some of whom have long been forgotten.
Totally endorse Edward Clark’s description of Gitlis as one of the titans of a bygone age. I met Gitlis some years ago at a concert in Paris and a friend whom I was with introduced me; Gitlis said to me “I know who you are” and I replied “I bet you don’t …… but I know who you are”. He looked at me rather sadly and said sagely ” I don’t know who I am any more!”. Anyway I told him how I treasured his recording of the Sibelius with Horenstein and he said how much he had enjoyed working with him. I have happy memories of an impassioned performance of the Tchaikovsky Trio at the Wigmore Hall with Steven Isserlis and Nelson Goerner
I second the Happy Birthday wishes to an individual artist in a world where too many (but not all, of course, by any means!) concert circuit soloists sound the same as each other. Those Vox concerto recordings were in the house where I grew up, were part of my musical awakening. Listen to the solo preamble to the Tchaikovsky finale for some real zigeuner spirit!
Living history. BTW I assume Douglas’s reference to the Tchaikovsky Trio meant to say Steven Isserlis? Julius, his illustrious grandfather, was a pianist. He died in 1968.
Thanks Ates, yes, it should be Steven, and now is! Colin
Once in a while you want to hear the Tchaikovsky fiddle concerto played in the way it is on the 2CD Vox Legends set I have, conducted by Heinrich Hollreiser with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Granted it is not without cuts but the performance still comes in at under half an hour. Yes, it is fast and furious but heady and bracing too in the outer movements, with Gitlis singing his heart out in the Canzonetta. In partnership with Horenstein and the same orchestra he turns in by far the most dramatic first movement imaginable of the Bruch G Minor. We can still get excited about great names from the past! And why ever not?
The Tchaikovsky & Bruch Concertos are included in Profil’s set.
The only fiddler post-Huberman who compares! Chutzpah, excitement, heart, intelligence, a sense of style – one on his own!