As some readers will know, Shlomo Mintz, still in his middle twenties, was born in Russia and brought up in Israel; latterly he's studied in the States. He has unusual skill and musicianship, and it must be a long time since he last fought shy of a piece of music because of its difficulty. His playing of the Bach sonatas and partitas is triumphantly good. I did not notice too much difference in quality between the CDs and the cassettes, both are first rate and a little smoother and cleaner than the LPs. The rival LPs are also well-worth hearing, but I am not wholly convinced of the advantages of 'unedited' performances, which is what Ricci gives on Unicorn-Kanchana; and though Ayo (Philips) gets the music on to two LPs (a financial attraction) he can only do so by cutting repeats and making you change sides in the middle of the Second Partita and Second Sonata. Thus Mintz's chief rival, his senior by some 40 years, is Oscar Shumsky (ASV), and if you own either of these performances your experience will be a rich one.
Mintz is unusually good at attacking three-note chords without spreading them—not always of course, that would be impossible—and his intonation never falters when he is playing contrapuntally. He is also capable of a lot of expressive rubato, for instance in the first movement of the A minor, which like Ayo he plays very slowly indeed, but there is plenty of power in the subsequent fugue, though some may find the dynamic contrasts excessive. The D minor Partita is of course the supreme test not only in these works but in the entire violin repertory, and Mintz emerges with distinction. In the Courante he digs some of the beats rather heavily, and after you've heard Shumsky play the Chaconne you may feel Mintz is straining just too hard after some of the effects. Shumsky uses less dynamic contrasts and more rubato, and one is conscious of a remarkable wisdom and maturity in his playing. An unusual difference of approach (the two performances show many similarities) can be found in the minuets of the E major Partita, which Shumsky takes very slowly and gently with mesmeric effect; here for once Mintz cannot compete. But what a marvellous performance he gives for a violinist of his youthfulness.'