Release Date: 31 May 2003
Label: Naxos - Historical / Naxos Historical
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 2
Barcode: 636943198025
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: GREAT VIOLINISTS
Description
There is a peculiar fascination in tracing the musicalancestry of violinists, their ultimate descent from one great teacher oranother.Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) was born in Vienna, studied firstwith his father, and then with the younger Joseph Hellmesberger at the ViennaConservatory and then in Paris with Massart, the teacher of Wienawski. Massarthimself had studied with Rodolphe Kreutzer, dedicatee of Beethoven's KreutzerSonata, who had been a pupil of Anton Stamitz, tracing the musical lineage backto the great Mannheim orchestra of Mozart's time. Kreisler completed histechnical training at the age of twelve and had a certain success as aperformer in America, before returning to Vienna to follow his father'sexample, as a medical student. In the mid-1890s he returned to the violin andembarked on a career as a virtuoso, appearing as a soloist with the ViennaPhilharmonic in 1898 and the following year with the Berlin Philharmonic, withconcerts following in America and in London. He spent the war years from 1914in America and from 1924 to 1934 based his activities on Berlin. In 1939 hereturned to the United States, taking American citizenship in 1943. There wasalways considerable charm in his playing, particularly in his application ofvibrato, an extension of a technique employed by Wienawski. As a composer he isknown for his transcriptions for the violin and the pieces he wrote andascribed to older composers, whose style they then seemed to reflect. Theseoften appeared to be designed for recording, fitting, as they did, onto oneside of the discs then in use. He recorded Bruch's Violin Concerto No.1, a workof remarkable continuing popularity, in 1924/25 under Eugene Goossens.An excerpt from the Kreutzer Sonata introduces Adolf Busch(1891-1952), one of the great Beethoven players of the first half of thetwentieth century, particularly in his partnership with the pianist RudolfSerkin. Busch was taught first by his father, an instrument repairer andbuilder. He studied in Cologne with Willy Hess, who had been taught by his ownfather, a pupil of the great violinist-composer Spohr, and by Joseph Joachim.In 1912 he became leader of the Vienna Konzertverein Orchestra and formed theKonzertverein Quartet, with Fritz Rothschild, Paul Doktor and P.Gr?â??mmer. Hisassociation with the younger Serkin, who later became his son-in-law, led tothe foundation in 1926 of the Busch-Serkin Trio, with his brother Hermann ascellist. From 1933 until 1949 Busch refused to play in Germany, and in 1935founded his chamber orchestra in England, settled for a time in Switzerland andthen moved to the United States. As a duo Busch and Serkin played from memory,avoiding the distraction of page-turners. They recorded the Kreutzer Sonata inNew York in 1941.Born in Vilna, Jascha Heifetz (1901-1988) was taught theviolin by his father and finally by Leopold Auer in St Petersburg, where he madehis debut in 1911, following this with a successful appearance in Berlin. In1917 he left Russia,
Tracklisting
Various Artists
Various
Various
Various
Tullio Serafin
Soloists
Soloists
Soloists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
