Of Polish origin, but for many years resident in England, Haendel had a long career, but made relatively few records. One of the finest is surely this commanding performance of the Brahms violin concerto, made for HMV in 1953. She is accompanied by the London Symphony, conducted by Sergiu Celibidache (who was making his final appearance on commercial recordings before he renounced them as being wrong, or something).
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| Ida Haendel and Sergiu Celibidache |
The mono recording is quite good, providing that welcome you-are-there sensation - even if it is the sensation that you are there in an empty hall. [Note: this now has been remastered in ambient stereo and has excellent sound.]
Above is the cover from the HMV issue, although I have dubbed this from an RCA Bluebird LP of about the same vintage. The RCA has a generic cover, so I have not included it. Instead, I've included the four-page HMV insert to the February 1955 issue of Gramophone that includes an announcement of this recording (see the center spread below). Also part of the package is an August 1955 interview with the artist, containing many questionable details of her life as a child virtuoso (e.g., her father interrupting Joseph Szigeti while he was shaving to demand that he audition little Ida for tutelage - I think I saw something like that in a bad musical). Well, the facts may be fanciful, but the music making is spectacular. I hope you agree.
Above is the cover from the HMV issue, although I have dubbed this from an RCA Bluebird LP of about the same vintage. The RCA has a generic cover, so I have not included it. Instead, I've included the four-page HMV insert to the February 1955 issue of Gramophone that includes an announcement of this recording (see the center spread below). Also part of the package is an August 1955 interview with the artist, containing many questionable details of her life as a child virtuoso (e.g., her father interrupting Joseph Szigeti while he was shaving to demand that he audition little Ida for tutelage - I think I saw something like that in a bad musical). Well, the facts may be fanciful, but the music making is spectacular. I hope you agree.
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| From the February 1955 Gramophone (click to enlarge) |
excellent! downloading right away.
ReplyDeletejealous that you have this LP. where in the world are you located?
I know ms haendel from her (much later) Elgar concerto recording. Looking forward to hearing the Brahms.
PS may I please mention that your comment controls make it very very hard to post any feedback here without verifying umpteen different things such as logging into wordpress, etc and supplying ones name? It's cumbersome and probably deters many commenters. If you could open it up to anonymous posters or allow us to specify our own identity without third-party verification, it's going to result in far more feedback for you.
ReplyDeletejust sayin
@ threenobleorphans, I am in Cleveland, US, where I have been mining for records for decades. I should turn off comment moderation; thanks for reminding me. I was getting odd comments for a while there.
ReplyDelete@ threenobleorphans, Oh, and the Haendel record to get (my favorite anyway) is the Sibelius concerto with Berglund.
ReplyDeleteHi There
ReplyDeleteSibelius w/ Berglund sounds wonderful. Must have been later?
Cleveland, USA sounds like a fine place indeed to mine for records. I'm in NYC but unfortunately they tell me the good stuff is to be found out in the surrounding burbs, where I dare not venture!
-Squirrel (aka Three Noble Orphans), who posted once earlier about Munch and about Claude Williamson.
I remember my first exposure to her, playing Shostakovich on the proms. I was swept away by the fire of her playing. I'm really looking forward to working on some tedious analysis today to the accompaniment of a bit of Brahms.
ReplyDelete(there are parts of the brain that will not, cannot analyse data, and these need good music to listen to while the other parts get on with the day job!)
@ Squirrel, I spend a lot of time in NYC, and it isn't the record hunter's paradise it once (allegedly) was.
ReplyDelete@ Ronan, Music makes any activity better!
Buster: Thanks for this. I'm going to download post haste. As for location: I'm in Albuquerque, after spending my first 40 years in Boston. This "cow town" (as I sometimes affectionately call it) is a surprisingly good place to shop for used books and used records, although not as good as it was 15 years ago, before Borders and Barnes and Noble put a bunch of small independent stores out of business. For new items, one really has to rely largely on the internet. There's not a decent music department in the entire city. Thanks again. I truly love your site.
ReplyDelete@ Lawrence, Yes, and now Borders is on its last legs, with a very small classical selection. I remember Borders when it was just a single Ann Arbor bookstore. There was a classical record shop across the street and another a block away. And there were a variety of other bookstores and record shops within a few block radius. The web giveth - and taketh away.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this rare recording among many, many others.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
A Fellow Clevelander
Buster..another winner..quite by chance, I was reading about this last recording session by Celi and how when it was through he made his promise to never record again. This decision had nothing to do with Ms Haendel for it was rumored that she and Celi were on and off lovers for many years. Surely, two very unique musical personalities!
ReplyDeleteFred
ReplyDeleteWhere did you read that? Sounds interesting!
Hi Buster, thanks for the new link on this. Now if I can only wrest if from Mega. . . I recently replaced my Fred Flintstone XP computer with a newer model with 7 on it. Mega seems to detest this computer. If nothing else, I'll go to my wife's laptop. Mega adores that one, downloads at MBs per second on it. Mine? Usually kills at 3 to 13%. Persistence and all that. I'm presently listening to Haendel playing the Bach Sonatas & Partitas for solo violin. An utterly lovely interpretation. Thanks for all you share!
ReplyDeletevilstef - Let me know if you have problems - I can upload it to Zippyshare.
ReplyDeleteIf you would, I'd appreciate it a lot! I've tried Mega about half a dozen times, and it stalls at 4% every time.
DeleteThanks Buster, this is a great album, and Ida is a great artist.
ReplyDeleteMy admired Buster. before starting thanks you so much for the fact of giving us part of your countless musical treasures. A huge salute and wonderful 2016. By the way it would be marvelous (in the next ten or more days, if you you may to reload this album. I hadn't the chance to do it at its moment and now the links are dead). have a marvelous 2016 Buster for you, your relative and all this fantastic community of friends and har to die followers who steem you as you have no idea. Congratulations from Venezuela. Yours
ReplyDeleteHIRAM
My admired Buster. before starting thanks you so much for the fact of giving us part of your countless musical treasures. A huge salute and wonderful 2016. By the way it would be marvelous (in the next ten or more days, if you you may to reload this album. I hadn't the chance to do it at its moment and now the links are dead). have a marvelous 2016 Buster for you, your relative and all this fantastic community of friends and har to die followers who steem you as you have no idea. Congratulations from Venezuela. Yours
ReplyDeleteHIRAM
Thanks for this marvelous post! Great Blog!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome
ReplyDeleteMany thanks indeed for presenting this again. Much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteP
Ambient stereo remastering (Apple lossless):
ReplyDeletehttps://mega.nz/file/iFcSDbLR#1qq8nRFjk8ud-g4nqWWmf8RFCobf9prjN7Cos0NR9xw