Most artists dream in vain of fending off technical decline. Jascha Heifetz, though, faced the opposite problem. Many violin devotees accuse Heifetz of never evolving a distinctive personal vision. Indeed, it has become fashionable to flail Heifetz for an emotional reticence at odds with the heart-on-sleeve style we normally expect of our fiddlers. But instead of damning him for what he wasnt (and never pretended to be), it seems far better to hail him for seizing upon a unique personality and never straying. Throughout his career, Heifetz projected his sensational technique and pure tone with affirmative athletic confidence. Even in his last performances, he sounds like the most youthful violinist on record. Critics also flayed Heifetz for playing too fast, but that’s largely an illusion. Try this: imagine a favorite melody (or even just a scale) with sliding, blended notes. Now imagine it again at the same tempo but with the notes short and clipped. The latter always sounds faster, even though it isn’t. That’s how it was with Heifetz – his precision seemed much quicker than it really was. Even so, the perception of velocity is genuinely thrilling. Ultimately, Heifetz was accused of being cold and mechanical. But his technical perfection, while unsentimental, was still full of sentiment. His subtle inflection enabled him to slip beneath the surface without disturbing the formal design.……Peter Gutmann https://youtube/watch?v=r9LtfDtN6C0 Reference: classicalnotes.net/columns/heifetz.html#heifetz-update
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 02:13:39 +0000
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