[78-L] Violinists and Dream Discs.

[Howard Friedman]

>>The violinists I grew up loving on record were...

Mischa Elman, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz and Bronislav Huberman.

However, the first records that I fell in love with were...

'Oh! My Beloved Father' from GIANNI SCHICCHI by Puccini, sung by Joan Hammond.
(I was 3yo when I heard that one. It was always on the radio in London in 1950)

Love Me Or Leave Me sung by Ruth Etting (with Joe Venuti and Eddie 
Lang, I think).
This was among the first records bought for me by my parents, about 
the same year, when my Xmas present was a wind-up portable 
gramophone. Great present!

Then, my great uncle played me Caruso singing Elegie Melodie by Massenet.
That 1913 recording did the trick. I was about 6 years old and the 
next Saturday morning, I started looking for 78s in the local market!<<

Now, that's much better!  At least we're talking about music here.  Actually, I wasn't brought up on vocals.  I think for my 18th birthday, my uncles gave me Liszt's Saint Francis Walking on the Waters, with Cortot,  Liszt's 6th Hungarian Rhapsody with Levitski, and for my 19th my father gave me Mozart's 40th Symphony with the BSO and Kousevitsky, and for my 20th the Sibelius 2nd with Barbirolli.  It was all uphill from then on!  As for the greatest pianist of the 20th century, try and beat Busoni, the piano rolls are fantastic!  I also branched out to Ignaz Friedman (no relation), Solomon Cuttner, and the giant of them all Gieseking!  

Howard