Revisiting the violin concertos of Henri Vieuxtemps

[terry martyn]

I have long had the LP of Zukerman playing the Fifth in my collection, and,fairly recently,acquired the famous 1935 recording of Haifitz in the Fourth.   But it has been severely cut, about 20% of the orchestral music excised,which might have been acceptable in its day,but is really not now,especially when Vieuxtemps was a decent orchestrator.   However, I have just been re-listening to the transcendent, world-class, Misha Keylin in the Naxos series (especially the Second Concerto), and,showy and superficial it might arguably be, but it works a treat!

I have just ordered the Naxos CD of Keylin ,playing the First and the Fourth. The Fourth is six minutes longer than Haifitz's bowdlerised performance. The reviews are too good to ignore.