3 Comments

1. 

   Andrew Keener on December 24, 2020 at 1:57 pm

   Another part of my musical awakening gone. My parents, who supported to the hilt my music obsessions, had a small collection of classical LPs, among which was Gitlis’ Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn concertos on Vox with a Vienna SO/Heinrich Hollreiser hanging on by their coat tails. The vinyl pressing was so weighty and sturdy you could have tiled you roof with it, while the grooves yielded a style of playing so wild, so risky, red-blooded and unconcerned with purely cosmetic beauty of sound that, to this day, I can recall in detail moments in these performances. The short cadenza leading to the Tchaikovsky finale is pure Zigeuner! Of course there are great players today, but Gitlis’ style is of a bygone age which we overlook to our loss.

   Reply
   • 

     EDWARD CLARK on December 24, 2020 at 2:42 pm

     Oh how sad.
     Another 90 plus fiddler lost to us for ever this year. Camilla Wicks and Ida Haendel included.
     All supreme artists in their different ways. I have his CD Vox issued in the US box set of various concertos. He did not have the silky sound of Wicks nor the overt emotion of Haendel but his wizardry was profound.
     How sad indeed three giants gone in a year.

     http://www.colinscolumn.com/sad-news-camilla-wicks-has-died-at-the-age-of-92/

     http://www.colinscolumn.com/sad-news-ida-haendel-dies-at-the-age-of-91/

     Reply
2. 

   Stephen Morris (new boy on the blog) on December 24, 2020 at 4:41 pm

   And his version of the Bartok Violin Concerto 2 on Vox originally with the solo sonata brought me to this composer back in the 50s when I started to collect vinyl. This version is still around on Brilliant Classics or Profil so search it out. Wild and passionate!

   Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.