Re: "Jewish" Violin Music (suggestions)

[Eliott Kahn <Elkahn...>]

>
>Finally, Mischa Elman recorded a Vanguard LP (1099 in mono) called HEBRAIC 
>MELODIES, featuring, in addition to (again) Achron's "Hebrew Melody," Bruch's 
>"Kol Nidre," and Bloch's "Nigun" from BAAL SHEM, works by Josef Bonime (one 
>"Danse Hebraique"), George Perlman ("Dance of the Rebbitzen"--the titles are 
>intriguing, anyway), Marc Lavry, and Chajes, plus a couple of chestnuts.
>
>Hope that's helpful.
>
>--Robert Cohen
>
This recording was reissued on CD (Vanguard Classics, OVC 8030) in 1992. We 
have it here at our library, and I don't recall if we purchased it from Simon 
or Noa Lachman. 

I can't praise this recording highly enough. I already knew that Elman was a 
student of Leopold Auer at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, but, according to 
the liner notes, Auer actually discovered the child prodigy Elman at the Royal 
Conservatory in Odessa. Elman was born in 1891 in the province of Kiev, "the 
son of a local impoverished Hebrew teacher."

Here are some of those serendipitous moments of music making where someone got 
the bright idea to record Elman towards the end of his life, playing a style of 
music he obviously felt in his bones and had the technique to play beautifully. 
The recordings appear to have been made for Vanguard in 1959, 1962, and 1966. 
Elman died in 1967. Both Bloch's NIGUN and Achron's (another student of Auer's) 
HEBREW MELODY are exceptional. One only wishes Elman had recorded more of 
Achron's music. 

The pianist, Elman's regular accompanist Joseph Seiger, also rises to the 
occasion and provides a perfect music-making partnership.

Dr. Eliott Kahn
Music Archivist
Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
3080 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
WK: (212) 678-8076
FAX (212) 678-8998
elkahn (at) jtsa(dot)edu

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