The gem of this disc is the Wieniawski concerto, with which Heifetz not only created a sensation on his American debut at the age of 16 but which he was the first to record. A virtuoso work par excellence, it affords him infinite opportunities to display his phenomenal brilliance, impeccable intonation and (in the Romanze) beautiful phrasing and soulfully emotional tone—which, as all violinists observe with fascination, owes much to his individual fingerings. The tuttis in this work have been somewhat cut, but that is of little consequence in a purely solo vehicle like this. The perfection of his rapid spiccato bowing in the finale is enough to make mere mortal string players despair. The recording still sounds well after nearly 40 years.
Though the Bruch was recorded only three days previously, the sound is much more shallow. The work, written a decade after the popular G minor Concerto, was given its first performance in 1877 by Sarasate, to whom it is dedicated, at the Crystal Palace in London (I possess a copy of the programme), but the composer was dissatisfied with it and made several revisions. It is certainly less striking musically, and until the last movement does not demand much in the way of showy technique: the first movement is unusual in being a plaintive Adagio, with which Heifetz does all that is possible, and the second movement is largely taken up with a recitative following a quasi-horn-call. Four days earlier still the artist had played the little Serenade melancolique of Tchaikovsky with a different orchestra and conductor—a hauntingly moving performance of this simple lyrical piece: it receives a warm recording, much the best on this disc. The one-movement concerto by Conus (Konius), however, is less fortunate in its sound, which lacks depth. It is a cliche-ridden, second-rate work, though with a rather better short Adagio section before the cadenza: rarely heard in the concert-hall, it is still in use in Russian and American conservatories. Students there could have no finer or more persuasive model for it than Heifetz.'