When these recordings were made in the early '60s,
Jascha Heifetz was reaching the end of his long and successful career. And, unfortunately, it sounds that way. His once polished virtuoso technique was starting to fray -- fast passages are smudged, long lines are blurred, bow strokes are too vehement -- and his once famous tone was beginning to dim -- what had been focused, intense, and riveting is now narrow, thin, and even occasionally cracked. While these qualities might conceivably have worked in some repertoire -- possibly
Prokofiev or
Shostakovich, perhaps
Stravinsky or Schoenberg -- they don't work at all in Bruch's lyrically expansive Violin Concerto No. 1 and ardently nostalgic Scottish Fantasy or in Vieuxtemps' brilliant to the point of brittleness Violin Concerto No. 5. Accompanied by the enthusiastic but insensitive
Malcolm Sargent leading the professional but lackluster New Symphony Orchestra of London -- a nom de registrement for an otherwise anonymous group of London session players --
Heifetz sounds like he's merely going through the motions. Produced by Eric Smith, RCA's original Living Stereo sound was honest but a bit close; RCA's super audio remastering is just as honest but a lot closer.