Jascha Heifetz - The Complete Album Collection

This is a MUST HAVE for Heifetz fans--for all lovers of beautiful violin music. I especially wanted it for CD 32, the reissue of Christian Sinding's Suite in A Mi., Op. 10. My brother bought the LP when we were growing up. We played that band until the grooves wore out. Just close your eyes as you listen, and you're sure to imagine Viking ships and fjords. It will refresh you on a hot summer's day. On one day, out of curiosity, I played the Tchaikovsky concerto and Ravel's Tzigane, also on that record, and thought, "These are pretty good, too!" That may have been the first time my brother or I ever played those pieces. Before this 104-CD set came out, I saw only one reissue of Heifetz playing the Sinding suite on line. It was of a live performance. One reviewer said that it was poorly engineered. I believed him and did not buy the CD. I feared that the Heifetz LP would remain a beloved memory never to be relived. Then this original jacket reissue came out, and I grabbed it in a heartbeat.Making this set worth its weight in gold are the Rubinstein-Heifetz-Piatigorsky recordings, the so-called "Million Dollar Trio." By all accounts Arthur Rubinstein hated that sobriquet, but let's face it: is a finer trio even thinkable? Again I reconnected with an old friend in the reissue of the Ravel Trio in A Minor. NO PIANIST PLAYS THE FIRST PHRASE AS WELL AS RUBINSTEIN! Many other pianists add tasteless touches perhaps with the idea of "bringing out nuances." In fact, they only trash the line. Rubinstein keeps it simple, and what is the result? Goosebumps!Of course, I made some new friends with this set. CD 30 includes Handel's Sonata in E Major. What repose--such sensitivity by both violinist and accompanist! And who wouldn't love Dvorak's "Dumky" Trio?I also found new friends in unlikely places. When I learned that CDs 81-84 were acoustic recordings, I thought, "Ugh! Why...?" I did not expect to enjoy them because of the primitive technology. One evening, though, as I was puttering in the kitchen, I decided to play them just to hear what I had paid for. Guess what?--even these are delightful! Auer's arrangement of the Turkish March from Beethoven's "Ruins of Athens" is a virtuostic demon. Most notes are double stops, but Heifetz drops them off with spunk and disgusting ease. His use of "false harmonics" at the end makes the violin sound like a whistle. Primitive technology did not keep him from flaunting his flair for color. Of all his recordings of Wieniawski's "Scherzo-Tarantelle," I find that he plays with the most enthusiasm in the acoustic one. Have handkerchiefs ready when you hear Kreisler's "Sicilienne et Rigaudon (in the Style of Francoeur)." Once your ear adjusts to the antiquated sound, you might very well feel yourself transported to a different world--one of grace and serenity. In "Heifetz on Music," the last track of CD 77, the virtuoso says that the point of practice is to address weaknesses until the problems are licked. His acoustic recordings show that he had already licked ALL technical problems when he was still a teenager.Three bonus CDs with never-before released material come with this set as well as the first issue of Tchaikovsky's sextet "Souvenir of Florence" on CD 74. The fine artists include Israel Baker and Gregor Piatigorsky. Why it was never released on LP baffles me. It compares favorably with the recording made by the Borodin Quartet with Rostropovich.In the DVD Heifetz plays selections found several times on the CDs, and the narration comes largely from the "Heifetz on Music" track. However, the DVD offers the chance to see Heifetz in action. He made his work look easy because he NEVER engaged in gratuitous showmanship. This prompted some critics to call him technically perfect but "cold." Excuse me? Were they listening at all? Heifetz' coldness SIZZLES! The energy in his bowing arm is awesome. He was ALWAYS 100% focused on the music, with no wasted motion whatsoever--and no distractions.

I just got this set from amazon. I have to say, the design and the box looks great. But after I listen to few of them, my conclusion is, there's no new remastering. From the note written at the last page of the thick booklet, "CDs 1-100 & DVD consist of previously released material. CDs 1-98 mastered by Philpp Nedel, Martin Kistner and Hansjorg Seiler, [...] CDs 101-103 previously unreleased. Taken from RCA Victor recordings in the Sony Music Archives and from Stanford University's Archive of Recorded Sound. Disc to tape transfer & Mastering Engineer: Jon M. Samuels"As i showed above. It says "CDs 1-100 & DVD consist of previously released material." Those digital tracks they used in this box set are the same in the previous Heifetz Collection. I don't know what Philpp Nedel, Martin Kistner and Hansjorg Seiler did. It's so obvious to see if it's remastered. Just listen to CD 15, Walton concerto. I love this version a lot, I know its previous release very well. I hoped the new box set would solve the problem, but no. The unnatural digital sound from 0:30 of the first movement is still there, the "suddenly-brightened" orchestra part in the third movement at 6:43 is still there. I can't understand why they still say it's "new mastering". The ironic thing is, I have the 1989 release. (http://www.amazon.com/Heifetz-plays-Elgar-Walton-Concertos/dp/B00000E6GS/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1301951339&sr=1-4) In this EARLIER released CD. Every single problem I mentioned for this concerto doesn't exist, and it's even "stereo"(fake, but still sounds natural, original, and nice). I don't know what they did to "improve" the sound. Also, the DVD is the exact same as it was released before. I owned the earlier one. Because I just got the set today, I cannot give out too many examples.p.s.: Why are there 103 discs? There were only about 60 discs in the last Heifetz Collection, what are the others?Well, there ARE some bonus, but they cannot fill 40 discs. They are only 8 new CD-release I think. (i'm not sure.) Also, they don't include the "Jascha Heifetz Live: Never-Before-Published Rare Live Recordings", which I bought earlier on iTunes. There are so many discs because they "wasted" a lot of blank space on each CDs. They didn't arrange the tracks like they were in the previous Heifetz Collection. They arrange them as the order of the first-released LP. So, a lot of CDs only have about 40 minutes of playing time per disc. DON'T THINK THAT THERE WILL BE A LOT OF NEW MATERIAL!Why do I still give it 5 stars?Because this re-release is so valuable. This set is the only way to hear the Heifetz sound without buying out-of-print disks. Although there's no remastering for most of the discs, the sound still sounds nice. I think the reason they didn't do the remastering, is because the master tape is getting worse condition by the time pass. Maybe the tape/disc itself, will sound even worse than the last mastering. Despite this Walton, the others have satisfied me enough. Plus the super-cheap price, YOU HAVE TO GET THIS BOX SET!