Sibelius & Arensky - Heifetz, Piatigorsky & Pennario

Jan Sibelius (1865-1957)

Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47

Jascha Heifetz, Violin
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Thomas Beecham

(Victor, issued 1938; recorded HMV,
Nov. 26, 1935)

Anton Arensky (1861-1906)

Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 32

Jascha Heifets, Violin
Gregor Piatigorsky, Cello
Leonard Pennario, Piano

(RCA, 1966)

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My Favorite Heifetz (sort of)

I don't get a Victor edition (c. 1936) of the 1935 recording of Heifetz performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto in the mail every day (it's my second copy after unfortunately parting with my first one over 20 years ago). So, naturally I wanted to upload a documentation of this reunion - but thought it might also be a good idea to include another recording from Heifetz. Of course, the large quantity of great recordings from Heifetz makes it difficult to narrow them down to just two. But here are a pair which struck me from the beginning and which I continue to revisit.

In the Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_on_the_Volga) concerning Arensky's opera Dream on the Volga, we read: "Vasily Yastrebtsev wrote in his Reminiscences of Rimsky-Korsakov that one day in 1903 he had found the composer "leafing through Dream on the Volga and sincerely admiring many pages [...] 'Nowadays,' he said no one writes like this anymore; it smacks of something irretrievable.' "

Something similar could be said about Arensky's Piano Trio - both music and performance; the latter being a remarkable instance of having the concern and insight to retrieve something from the historical trash-heap whose spirit might otherwise have been lost ... while Dream on the Volga, outside of its overture, has yet to be recorded.

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78 rpm and LP transfers of above material.
Includes cover, notes and labels.