# Bruch, Wieniawski, Michael Rabin, Sir Adrian Boult ‎– Scottish Fantasy / Concerto #1



## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

This week's edition of _Vinyl's Revenge_ proposes a vintage recording of violin concertante works, one by *Bruch *and the other by *Wieniawski *- featuring American violinist Michael Rabin accompanied by Sir Adrian Boult and the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Michael Rabin was of Romanian-Jewish descent. His mother Jeanne was a Juilliard-trained pianist, and his father George was a violinist in the New York Philharmonic. He began to study the violin at the age of seven. His parents encouraged his musical development. After a lesson with Jascha Heifetz, the master advised him to study with Ivan Galamian, who said he had "no weaknesses, never." He began studies with Galamian in New York and at the Meadowmount School of Music and the Juilliard School.

At his Carnegie Hall debut in 1950 at age 13, Dimitri Mitropoulos called Rabin "the genius violinist of tomorrow, already equipped with all that is necessary to be a great artist." George Szell described him as "the greatest violin talent that has come to my attention during the past two or three decades." And Artur Rodzinski added: "Rabin's is not the usual musical prodigy story. No one beat him to make him practice his scales. He was not overprotected and shut off from the world, but managed to enjoy a perfectly normal American boy hood."

As is too often the case for precocious talents, the commitments that ensued with his prodigal launch as a teenage virtuoso had been too much for him to handle; he turned to drugs to cope with the anxieties. The coroner found barbiturates in Rabin's blood after the violinist was found dead in his apartment. He had slipped on a rug and struck his head on a table - he was only 35 years old.

The two works on this LP harken back to Pablo de Sarasate and Henryk Wieniawski, two preeminent violin virtuosi of the late Romantic period. Sarasate was the dedicatee of Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, and Wieniawski composed a pair of concerti for his own use - the first being featured here. Both these works feature Rabin in top form and fully display his fabulous natural technique and melancholic temperament.

Happy listening!








*Max BRUCH (1838-1920)*
_Scottish Fantasy_, Op. 46

*Henryk WIENIAWSKI (1835-1880)*
Concerto No. 1 In F Sharp Minor, Op. 14

Michael Rabin, violin
Philharmonia Orchestra
Sir Adrian Boult, conducting
(Originally released in 1958)

Label: Seraphim ‎- 60342
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, MONO)
Released: 1980

Details - https://www.discogs.com/Michael-Rab...olin-Concerto-No-1-In-F-Sharp/release/9119674

_YouTube _- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6swnss9F7SGKhOStc-HxTARzMAuXdpbx


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## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

*We are repurposing the music from this post as a new montage in our ongoing Friday series on the For Your Listening Pleasure podcast January 14, 2022. The following notes are an update with useful links we have created or discovered since the original post.*

Henryk Wieniawski was a polish violinist and composer and one of the most celebrated violinists of the 19th century.

Wieniawski was a child prodigy who entered the Paris Conservatory at age 8 and graduated from there with the first prize in violin at the unprecedented age of 11. He became a concert violinist at age 13 and began touring Europe with his brother Joseph, a pianist. His wide-ranging concert tours brought him international fame. In 1860 he was appointed violin soloist to the tsar of Russia, and from 1862 to 1869 he taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In 1872-74 he toured the United States, playing with the pianist Anton Rubinstein, and he subsequently taught for a time at the Brussels Conservatory.

As a violinist Wieniawski was admired for his rich, warm tone, glowing temperament, and perfect technique. His own compositions for violin are Romantic in style and were intended to display his virtuosity. He composed two violin concerti, one in F-sharp Minor (Opus 14) and a quite popular one in D Minor (Opus 22). His other compositions include Le Carnaval russe (Opus 11), Legende (Opus 17), Scherzo-tarantelle (Opus 16), and études, mazurkas, and polonaises.

The pair of concerti are performed by Michael Rabin; the opening work, Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, was part of a past Vinyl's Revenge share, which we extended with the second Wieniawski concerto.

I think you will (still) love this music too.

All works performed by Michael Rabin, violin

*Max BRUCH (1838-1920)*
Fantasie für die Violine mit Orchester und Harfe unter freier Benutzung schottischer Volksmelodien (Scottish Fantasy), op. 46
[Vinyl's Revenge #40]	
Philharmonia Orchestra
Sir Adrian Boult, conducting

*Henryk WIENIAWSKI (1835-1880)* 
Violin Concerto No.1 in F Sharp Minor, op. 14
[Vinyl's Revenge#40]
Philharmonia Orchestra
Sir Adrian Boult, conducting

Violin ConcertoNo.2 in D Minor, op. 22
Philharmonia Orchestra
Sir Eugene Goosens, conducting

Archive Page - https://archive.org/details/pcast375


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