Violin Virtuosos: From Paganini to the 21st Century

Having read more than a few books on violinists, I can honestly say that this book is in a class by itself. It is far more insightful and analytical than any other book of its genre. While it is indeed colored by the subject evaluations (some of which I disagree with) it is a provocative work that that depicts many of the subtle details that most other commentators do not illuminate(ex:impulse vibrato)As for the reviewer who disputed the author's claims-I agree that Michael Rabin's recording of the Paginini 24 caprices has been surpassed by others, notably the early recording by Ossy Renardy, and more recently by Shlomo Mintz(yes, it's even BETTER than Midori's!) As for the Dvorak concerto, Midori's may be better than the well known recording made by Milstein in the 1960's, when he was still great-but past his prime. Listen to his first recording(unfortunately in mono) to hear the greatest performance of this work you will ever hear. And as for Gil Shaham- he is truly a great violinist, but not quite a great musician. Perlman is both, although Shaham may have a slight edge in technique. Moreover, Perlman's superiority is predicated on his charisma, which surpasses Shaham and just about all other violinists around. While Perlman is somewhat overrated and isn't my favorite player, it is safe to say that Shaham will never achieve the popularity and renown of Perlman, or possess the same degree of individuality. I admire Shaham, but he will never be the best player on the planet.

In this comprehensive volume, Mr. Roth focuses on the great violinists' PLAYING and recordings, rather than on biographical information. Since he is a professional violinist and critic with tremendous experience, many of his viewpoints are insightful and edifying. For instance, he convinced me that Paganini, as well as all the legendary violinists of the 19th century, probably didn't play as well as we imagined. A violin student can learn a lot from reading this book, e.g. he can try to emulate and assimilate all the merits of each great violinist.Yet, because the thrust of this book is his evaluation of the violinists' playing, he cannot avoid being subjective. For example, his ears are hypnotized by the tone and vibrato of Heifetz and Kreisler. He thinks that one should use vibrato for every note in a lyrical passage, and he believes that a white vibrato-less note has absolutely no expressive power. Therefore, he criticizes many violinists, including Oistrakh, for using vibrato in an "on-and-off" manner.After reading this book, I had the IMPRESSION that Mr. Roth's list of the greatest violinists ever PROBABLY goes something like this:=1. Heifetz =1. Kreisler 3. Oistrakh 4. Szeryng 5. Perlman 6. KoganHe also greatly admires Szigeti, Grumiaux, as well as Menuhin and Elman (in their youth).Among today's younger generation of violinists, he probably thinks Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Maxim Vengerov, Sarah Chang, and Leila Josefowicz are the most promising.I wrote the above assumption to give you an idea of Mr. Roth's taste. But even if you disagree with him, this book is still worth reading. It provides much valuable information you'll not find elsewhere, including opinions expressed by the greats themselves and a vast survey of the violinists' discography. Though Roth's comments are inevitably subjective, his professional observations can be taken as a reference, especially when you've got to understand his tastes. Of course, if you dislike Heifetz, you can pretty much ignore most of his adulations.

It is, of course, admirable that Roth takes great effort to write articles of so many violinists. It can be used as a reference to dates and such information. But still, the book could have been more rightly named "WHAT ROTH THINKS ABOUT VIOLINIST from Paganini to the 21st century". As Mr Perng writes in the above customer review, Roth seriously does have biases. If you agree with Roth, good. If you disagree, that's when the trouble starts. For instance, also as Mr Perng has pointed out, Roth worships Heifetz. Being strong admirer of Milstein (I cannot say I hate Heifetz though), I must say this. Roth writes to say why Heifetz was more famous (or played better,as Roth strongly suggested) that Milstein. But those points were exactly those which made Milstein renowned for! They are Milstein's straightforward musical approach, aristocratic tone, "more people seem to want to play like Heifetz than Milstein", and most of all, Milstein's refusal to play music that was popular (or that "sell") which happened to be what he didn't like. How many artistes will stand up for such a belief these days? These reasons were those that made people like me, and especially the Viennese (who by the way, hate Heifetz)admire him! With such comments, Roth can frustrate the reader. But with superb pictures and select discography (careful of his comments - use them only as a guide), I found it still all right to buy the book.

Violin personalities come to life -- with various styles individually discussed, and also compared/contrasted. As if the greats all performed last night, and Henry Roth writes a review for today's newspaper. A book of wonderful "short stories" than can be read in a series of short sessions.