Korngold; Rózsa; Waxman - Violin Concertos (Jascha Heifetz)

Information

Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold; Miklós Rózsa; Franz Waxman

• Korngold - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
• Rózsa - Violin Concerto, Op. 24
• Rózsa - Sinfonia Concertante, Op. 29a
• Waxman - Carmen Fantasie (Based on Themes from an Opera by Georges Bizet)

Jascha Heifetz, violin

Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra / Alfred Wallenstein, conductor

Dallas Symphony Orchestra / Walter Hendl, conductor

Gregor Piatigorsky, cello / Chamber Orchestra

RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra / Donald Voorhees, conductor

Date: 1953; 1956; 1963; 1946

Label: RCA

-----------------------------------------------------------

Review

This is a record to have one even more open-mouthed than usual at the pure wizardry of Heifetz. All four works were written specially for him by Hollywood film composers, all of them emigres from Europe. Where Korngold, the boy-wonder composer who never fulfilled the dazzling promise of his youth, used material for this Violin Concerto which he had already written for films—Another Dawn, Juarez, Anthony Adverse and The Prince and the Pauper—it was the other way about with Rozsa and Waxman. Rozsa, in response to Heifetz's commission, wrote his concerto at high speed, then worked with Heifetz on the details for 18 months, then finally used it in a subsequent film, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Waxman, after writing his Carmen Fantasy, also used it in the film, Humoresque. The Rozsa Tema con variazioni is the middle-movement of a Sinfonia concertante for violin, cello and orchestra, that he wrote for Piatigorsky—the other soloist here—as well as Heifetz.

None of this is great music, but in the hands of the magician who prompted it, it has many delights. If the Korngold brings the most striking ideas, the pieces Rozsa pieces with their gentle Hungarian flavour (much closer to Kodaly than to Bartok) are charming too, while the Waxman is a splendid firework display. That Waxman piece was recorded as early as 1946, long before the rest, with rather scrubby sound and an uneven surface even in the digital transfer. The Korngold followed in 1953, the Rozsa Concerto in 1956 and the Variations in 1963. Though the booklet keeps quiet about it, only the two Rozsa items appear to be in stereo. Few will worry about such points when the playing is so astonishing, and whatever the recording quality the solo instrument stands out vividly. The slight hum detectable in quiet passages is not so distracting as in some other Heifetz vintage transfers. There is a highly informative note by Richard Freed.

— Edward Greenfield

-----------------------------------------------------------

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born composer and child prodigy, hailed as a genius in early 20th-century classical music. He gained early fame for his operas, particularly Die tote Stadt (1920), before fleeing Nazi-occupied Austria in the 1930s. In Hollywood, Korngold became a pioneer of film music, composing lush, romantic scores for films like The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), which won him an Academy Award. He wrote scores for 16 Hollywood films in all, and is considered one of the founders of film music, along with Max Steiner and Alfred Newman.

***

Miklós Rózsa (April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer, best known for his nearly one hundred film scores. Born in Budapest, he studied at the Leipzig Conservatory and achieved early success with both concert and film music. The latter brought him to Hollywood, and Rózsa remained in the United States, becoming an American citizen in 1946. During his Hollywood career, he received three Oscars for Spellbound (1945), A Double Life (1947), and Ben-Hur (1959), while his concert works were championed by such major artists as Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, and János Starker.

***

Franz Waxman (December 24, 1906 – February 24, 1967) was a German-born composer and conductor best known for his film scores during Hollywood's Golden Age. Born in Germany, he studied music in Dresden and worked as an orchestrator for the German film industry, before fleeing the Nazi regime in 1934. He found success in the United States, composing iconic scores such as Sunset Boulevard (1950) and A Place in the Sun (1951), both of which earned him Academy Awards. Waxman was also founder the Los Angeles Music Festival, with which he conducted a number of West Coast premieres by fellow composers.

***

Jascha Heifetz (February 2 1901 – December 10, 1987) was a Russian-American violinist, widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time. Born in Vilnius, he was was trained at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Leopold Auer. In 1917 his family fled the Russian Revolution. He made his American debut in 1917 at Carnegie Hall, New York, and became a U.S. citizen in 1925. By the age of 18, Heifetz was the highest-paid violinist in the world. He had a long and successful concert career, touring widely in Europe, the Orient, the Middle East, and Australia. After 1962 he taught at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

-----------------------------------------------------------