BACKGROUND

The four historical recordings featured in the double CD release by Rhine Classics RH-025 JASCHA HEIFETZ THE LEGENDARY NEW YORK RECORDINGS have been restored and remastered for a better listening experience, while ambient noise and applause have been kept for the sake of maintaining the authenticity of the live concerts.

Jascha Heifetz was born to a Jewish family in 1901 in Vilnius, Lithuania. He moved to the United States as a teenager, where he made his Carnegie Hall debut. Heifetz had a long and successful performing career that, after an injury to his right arm, caused him to focus on teaching and conducting.

Gregor Piatigorsky was born in Dnipro, Ukraine to a Jewish family, where he was taught violin and piano by his father. He escaped the Soviet Revolution and eventually settled in the United States.

THE MUSIC

CD One

1. Erich Wolfgang Korngold – Violin Concerto in D major, Op.35

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Violin Concerto No.5 in A major, K.219, “Turkish”

New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra led by Efrem Kurtz

Recorded live in Carnegie Hall, New York, March 30, 1947  

• Jules Conus – Violin Concerto in E minor, Op.1

Recorded live in Carnegie Hall, New York, October 15, 1966

CD Two

1. Ludwig van Beethoven – Violin Concerto in D major

Detroit Symphony Orchestra led by Paul Paray

Recorded live in the UN General Assembly Hall, New York, December 9, 1959

• Johannes Brahms – Double Concerto for violin and cello in A minor, Op.102

Unnamed orchestra. With Gregor Piatigorsky, cello

Recorded live in Carnegie Hall, New York, October 15, 1966  

Emilio Pessina is responsible for the overall production, editorial design, audio restoration, and re-mastering from audience tapings, transcription discs, and from the original masters. Gary Lemco authored the liner notes. ℗ & © 2022 RHINE CLASSICS

THE PERFORMANCES

There is little that has not been said about Jascha Heifetz, about whom fellow violinist Fritz Kreisler said after hearing Heifetz’s debut, “We might as well take our fiddles and break them across our knees.”

The master violinist is ably accompanied by Efrem Kurtz with the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, and Paul Paray with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and by an unnamed (!) conductor and orchestra in an instance or two.

With Gregor Piatigorsky partnering Heifetz in the Brahms Double Concerto the heights of music-making are attained by these two giants.

Rafael de Acha © 2023