There can be no argument that Jascha Heifetz was one of the world’s greatest violin virtuosos. Unfortunately, all of these performances, originally available on separate LPs and in different couplings, are played more for high octane thrills than musical rewards. As such they deliver the virtuoso goods but sound old-fashioned and self-conscious. Heifetz’s partners are not consistently successful. Erick Friedman matches Heifetz’s intensity in the Bach, and William Primrose seems almost combative in trying to outdo him in the Mozart, but Piatigorsky sounds past his prime. Though this CD is presented in the Living Stereo series, the recorded sound is coarse and somewhat frowzy in the Bach and Mozart, a little better in the Brahms, but scarcely first rate. If you want Heifetz, go for this CD–but for the music, I would say Oistrakh, Rostropovich, and Szell for the Brahms; Durian, Skernick, and Szell again in the Mozart (Sony); and for the Bach, either Melkus for an original instrument version (Archiv), or a probably hard to find but worth the search Philips release that presents Szeryng, Hasson, and Marriner in a good modern instrument version.
