This 10-disc set does not include everything violinist Jascha Heifetz ever recorded for RCA; that runs to 46 volumes. What it does include is most of Heifetz's RCA recordings of the standard concerto repertoire plus Bach's solo sonatas and partitas, as well as a pair of concert recordings. For listeners looking for more than a taste and less than a ton of the great Russian violinist's work, it will be enough. With his focused tone, sharp attacks, narrow vibrato, and blinding intensity, Heifetz delivers performances that were in their time the acme of violin virtuosity. Some complained then, and still complain now, that Heifetz's Brahms, Bruch, and Tchaikovsky are too cool for such hot-blooded romantics, that his Beethoven and Mozart are too calculated for such fresh and open-hearted classicists, and that his unaccompanied Bach sonatas are too outwardly dramatic for such inwardly spiritual works. But so polished is Heifetz's technique and so deep is his musicality that even those who complain of the violinist's interpretations cannot help but admire his consummate mastery of violin playing. Recorded for the most part in richly detailed stereo sound -- the Korngold concerto and Waxman "Carmen" Fantasy are in richly detailed monaural sound -- the performances here deserve to be heard by anyone who relishes great violin playing.
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