Impressive Heifetz-cloning by a notable Heifetz pupil. In fact, play Friedman's recordings of the Saint-Saens, Sarasate, Ravel and Chausson items and you could almost be listening to the master himself. That is, unless you were listening very carefully—in which case you would have noted that the pupil lacks his master's elegance, tonal sweetness, keenness of attack and immaculate sense of timing. But, then, Heifetz was truly inimitable and has—at least, as of the present time—no rightful heirs. Turn, however, to the Wieniawski and Paganini pieces, and no Heifetzian comparisons are readily available: in fact, these are brilliant, warmly expressed performances, technically secure and imbued with a pleasing personality. The accompaniments, too, are very much on-the-ball. I'd happily have done without the excerpted Paganini movement (or, alternatively, would have preferred to hear the whole work), but it's still a pleasant programme, well transferred from originals that always did suffer from a touch of congestion.'