Reviews | RH-004 | JASCHA HEIFETZ | legendary Los Angeles concerts
| March 2019 | Rob Cowan | GRAMOPHONE (pg. 98-99) | Rhine gold: an archive treasure trove «Rob Cowan welcomes a historic label that has unearted some remarkable treasures. -- A Brahms Double Concerto with Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky and Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic? Having seen the promotional flyer I rubbed my eyes and, no, I wasn't dreaming. Imagine my delight when the recently launched historic label Rhine Classics sent me the evidence, a 1963 performance that for colour, drive and spontaneous impulse quite upstage the famous 1960 RCA Heifetz/Piatigorsky/Alfred Wallenstein Double, though Bernstein's presence was no doubt a significant factor The finale closes in a blaze of excitement; the applause is extatic [...] So here's to the next Rhine Classics releases, including Sergio Fiorentino and a big box of recordings by the violinist Franco Gulli. I'll be filling you in as soon as they arrive.» |
 May/June 2018 | Jerry Dubin | FANFARE Magazine - Issue 41:5 | Jascha Heifetz: The Legendary Los Angeles Concerts« [...] Heifetz plays magnificently; I’ll give him that. In fact, on a purely technical level, though his interpretation hasn’t changed to any noticeable degree, I think he plays better in this 1954 performance than he does just a year later in his best-known recording of the work with Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Munch, however, seems to have let Heifetz take the lead, so that the Boston reading sounds more of a meeting of the minds between soloist and conductor than this one does with Mehta. [...] In both this Los Angeles recording with Mehta and the Boston recording a year later with Munch, Heifetz uses the Auer-Heifetz cadenzas, but thanks to Mehta as a mediating influence where possible, the LA performance feels marginally slower and more relaxed than the Boston performance. Indeed, the more I listen to this LA reading of the piece, the more persuaded I am that it’s Heifetz’s best and most beautiful version of the Beethoven Concerto. [...]
Here’s where I’d be expected to say that the collection at hand is mainly for diehard Heifetz fans. With the exception of the Beethoven, however, I’m not sure I can recommend this even to the most dedicated Heifetz admirers, since nothing in these performances improves upon or differs in any significant way from other recordings of these works the violinist made in generally better sounding transfers and more readily available releases. If something could be done with the Beethoven —like suppressing the annoying cough and trimming the four minutes of applause down to four or five seconds— it might well be one of my top choices for a performance of the concerto. The LA orchestra sounds really great, and Mehta brings out some interesting patterns in the inner voices that I don’t believe I’ve ever heard before. [...]
The well-documented booklet contains a number of good quality black-and-white photos, along with a well-written, informative essay on Heifetz’s life and career. »
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7 March 2018 | THE VIOLIN CHANNEL | GIVEAWAY Win 1 of 5 | To help celebrate the international release, The Violin Channel is this week giving away 5 copies of ‘Jascha Heifetz: The Legendary Los Angeles Concerts’ double CD sets – courtesy of Rhine Classics.
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August 2017 | letter from our customer... «Dear all, regarding the future releases I would like that the recordings of the concerts given by Jascha Heifetz in the framework of the Bell Telephone Hour will be restored in high definitition, in particular the virtuosity pieces. Besides Mr Heifetz has interpreted in his youth some famous masterpieces but I do not know if these interpretations have been recorded. For example "The Palpiti", "Nel cor più non mi sento" of Paganini or the "Variations on an original theme" of Wieniawski. I would like if such records exist and are available they will be restored by Mr. Pessina. Thanks. Best regards.» J.-J. Leandri |
| 5☆☆☆☆☆ | 9 July 2017 | Gary Lemco | Audiophile Audition | Jascha Heifetz: The Legendary Los Angeles Concerts «Jascha Heifetz performances previously unreleased emerge on a new, important label in excellent sound. The live broadcasts offered here through the efforts of Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer Emilio Pessina derive from radio master and unreleased reel-to-reel audio tapes from both the Hollywood Bowl (1 September 1963) and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (6 December 1964). Pessina has maintained the audience response, and so the sheer level of excitement remains undeniable, especially after the Brahms Double Concerto with Piatigorsky and Bernstein. This Rhine Classics label promises to rank high in the pantheon of historic reissues.» |
 5 Diapason | 30 June 2017 | Jean-Michel Molkhou | DIAPASON No.659 (p. 124) | Jascha Heifetz - The legendary Los Angeles Concerts «La Révélation de témoignages inédits de Jascha Heifetz est toujours un événement. Les deux concertos ont été captés (live) à une époque où le violoniste, qui s'était installé en Californie, régnait encore quasiment sans partage sur le monde du violon américain. [...] Heifetz se livre à une démonstration d'anthologie, apparaissant là au sommet absolu de son art, et peut-être même de l'art de jouer du violon. Deux documents plus anciens (1950), dont une fantastique Habanera de Sarasate qui n'avait guère circulé que sur un rarissime microsillon du label Penzance, complètent ce double album agrémenté de superbes photos.» |
| June 2017 | Jonathan Woolf | MusicWeb International | Jascha Heifetz «This is a valuable addition to the discography. The Los Angeles concerts of 1963-1964 were given at the Hollywood Bowl, in which Heifetz and Piatigorsky played the Brahms Double with Leonard Bernstein, and at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion where the violinist essayed the Beethoven with Zubin Mehta. Neither concert has apparently been issued before. There are two bonus tracks, previously released, that come from the Bell Telephone Hour with Donald Voorhees conducting in Radio City, New York in February 1950. The Dvořák is tightly coiled, cloaked and hooded, full of inimitable tonal splendour and not remotely relaxed, whilst the Sarasate Habanera is suave and bewitching. Cembal d’amour once issued this (CD-113) but their transfer is cloudy and palpably inferior to this one.» |
| May 2017 | Stephen Greenbank | MusicWeb International | Jascha Heifetz - The Legendary Los Angeles Concerts «Valuable additions to the Heifetz discography using a high quality remastering process. These audio documents have been expertly restored and emerge warmly defined and vibrant, having been given a new lease of life by Emilio Pessina. I’m pleased that the soloist’s pre-performance tuning and applause has been retained, as this creates some of the atmosphere of the live event. There is an added bonus in the form of some beautifully produced black and white photographs of the musicians, including several I have never seen before.» |