Jascha Heifetz – Wieniawski, Saint-Saëns, Vieuxtemps & Sarasate: Works for Violin and Orchestra (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:43 minutes | 669 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

The insert-note here relates the remarkable story that Barbirolli, stepping off the boat-train at 11 o’clock one morning in 1935 after a visit abroad, was told that at 2 o’clock he was to record Vieuxtemps’s Concerto No. 4 a work he had never even heard, let alone seen with Heifetz. Using a score “so yellow with age that the pages crumbled” as they were turned, the work was nevertheless recorded in a single session a tribute not only to Barbirolli’s professionalism and skill but also to Heifetz’s confidence in the conductor (then aged 36, two years older than himself), having already recorded concertos by Glazunov and Mozart with him, as the most able of accompanists. On the face of it, as AS remarked when reviewing this collection on LP (10/87 nla), the combination may have seemed surprising, in view of the different temperaments of the two artists; but it certainly worked. There is a romantic fervour in the performance of this fourmovement concerto (which won Berlioz’s praise), and which is notable for the lyricism of its first two movements and the spectacular virtuosity of its one-in-a-bar Scherzo (the first sight of which alarmed Barbirolli, and no wonder) and of its finale, both of which Heifetz dispatches with consummate mastery.
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Jascha Heifetz – The Magic of Jascha Heifetz (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 03:19:15 minutes | 1,98 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Masterworks

There is a broad consensus that Jascha Heifetz set a standard of violin playing that has yet to be surpassed. Fellow violinists have called him the High Priest of our profession (Carl Flesch), the greatest violinistic influence since Paganini (Ruggerio Ricci), The Emperor (Henryk Szeryng), the King of us all (Pinchas Zukerman), and God (Itzak Perlman). His playing continues to inspire new generations of musicians.

Taken from the 24-CD box set of his complete stereo recordings, The Magic of Jascha Heifetz Remastered (3-CD set) is a collection of highlights that emphasize Heifetz s virtuosity by bringing together a broad cross-section of his stereo recordings. All of the music has been remastered from the original analogue tapes to bring out their best sound. All of the performances in this highlights collection were recorded after 1956 the last year that Heifetz embarked on an extensive tour. Although they capture the playing of his twilight years, the inimitable Heifetz standard is evident throughout.
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