# Heifitz reevaluated?



## Itullian

*Heifetz reevaluated?*

No doubt a great violinist. But most folks I've talked to seem to prefer others, Oistrakh, Kogan, Francescatti, Grumeaux, Szeryng.

Where do you think he stands in the pantheon? or is it just a matter of styles.

i think, at one time, he was touted as the greatest, no?


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## Taneyev

HeifEtz was unique IMO. With Kreisler, Oistrakh and young Menuhin, the best violinists of the 20Th.century. Hassid would have been other, but he died too soon.


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## Ukko

Heifetz was an early advocate (and practitioner) of exact pitch accuracy. His pre-WW2 recordings, notably of Bach and Brahms, are awesome. After the war he seemed (to me anyway) to have lost that nth degree of... spark? - whatever-it-is. Maybe the sensation that he was pushing the envelope - and nailing it. His recordings became impressive but not awe-inspiring. He did not, however, lose anything in the ego category.

I used to know an MD who studied violin under Heifetz at USC - and apparently considered the man a demigod. There were stories floating around in the 50s suggesting that Heifetz shared that opinion.


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## Itullian

what was his uniqueness?

also please, where would you place Isaac Stern? up there, too?


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## Ukko

Itullian said:


> what was his uniqueness?
> 
> also please, where would you place Isaac Stern? up there, too?


Not according to Heifetz.


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## Delicious Manager

I have never liked Heifetz. Yes, he was a violinist of unmatchable technique and virtuosity, but, to me, he always sounds like he's rushing through the music as quickly as possible to get it over with. Sad to say, I have never detected any soul or emotion in his playing whatsoever. A brilliant technician, but a cold and soulless one. I just can't listen to it. The same for Mullova and Hahn - they send icicles down my spine instead of shivers.


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## Ukko

Delicious Manager said:


> I have never liked Heifetz. Yes, he was a violinist of unmatchable technique and virtuosity, but, to me, he always sounds like he's rushing through the music as quickly as possible to get it over with. Sad to say, I have never detected any soul or emotion in his playing whatsoever. A brilliant technician, but a cold and soulless one. I just can't listen to it. The same for Mullova and Hahn - they send icicles down my spine instead of shivers.


This is Mullova the Bulgarian woman? (I have a problem distinguishing the Bulgarian from another violinist).

Anyway, Heifetz doesn't sound rushed and cold to me, but supremely competent, confident, and cool. Hahn the same to a lesser degree. Our diagnoses are similar enough to suggest that we only differ in our reactions.


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## Taneyev

Those of you who think that Heifetz was cold shouldn't listen to him, because if you do that you'r insulting his memory, and offending all the professional violinists and fans who thing like me that he was one of the greatest that ever exists.


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## Delicious Manager

Hilltroll72 said:


> This is Mullova the Bulgarian woman? (I have a problem distinguishing the Bulgarian from another violinist).
> 
> Anyway, Heifetz doesn't sound rushed and cold to me, but supremely competent, confident, and cool. Hahn the same to a lesser degree. Our diagnoses are similar enough to suggest that we only differ in our reactions.


Mullova is Russian. I don't want ANY musician I listen to to be 'cool'; I want a bit of passion.


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## Delicious Manager

Odnoposoff said:


> Those of you who think that Heifetz was cold shouldn't listen to him, because if you do that you'r insulting his memory, and offending all the professional violinists and fans who thing like me that he was one of the greatest that ever exists.


I think you need to get over yourself. If you can't take people having and expressing different tastes, views and opinions to yourself, perhaps forums aren't such a good idea for you...

You would probably be 'offended' too if I expressed my opinion that Menuhin was perhaps the most overrated violinist of the 20th century - the weedy tone, the awful intonation; why do people think he was so great?


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## Ukko

Delicious Manager said:


> [...]
> You would probably be 'offended' too if I expressed my opinion that Menuhin was perhaps the most overrated violinist of the 20th century - the weedy tone, the awful intonation; why do people think he was so great?


Menuhin was a great musician/diplomat. His intonation was 'approximate', common practice among many violinists/violists of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Francescatti was more accurate - except when carried away by enthusiasm. I have a recording of him playing the Chaconne that is a wonderful listening experience, partly I think because he is clearly 'giving it his all'.


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## Taneyev

IMO, between 1929 and more or less 1940 Menuhin was one of the greatest violinists on the world. From there he began to decline, and already in the 50s.his intonation was defective and leter on, to bad to worse. But his early recordings are just extraordinary.


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