Henri Wieniawski Violin Concerto nr. 1 / Michael Rabin ‎(EMI 6 CD 1936 - 1972) 1991 

Yes - there are some other good ones though. Gil Shaham's recording of this from his "student days" about 30 years ago is great. I listened to that CD a lot. I used to listen to it and think "does he find ANYTHING hard about it?!"

@@andresrozsa637 I have Gil's recording too and it is stellar. For me however, Rabin's playing sparkles a little bit more.

@@duggiefresh8170 This concerto is one of the hardest ones out there for the violin. I learned it awhile back and was definitely a better fiddler once I came out on the other side of it! Gil is a really good violinist but I will echo one of my old teachers - "he's no Michael Rabin."

@@andresrozsa637 Nobody, including Perlman, is Michael Rabin. Rabin is numero uno!

@@Ageless-yh7gv Very true! Perlman and Rabin - they're both in a class by themselves, like Heifetz and Milstein were. Perlman - you can't help but love the guy on every level. Amazing human being, flawless violinist. Very few today know who Rabin was. Only people like us. I've mentioned him to some superlative violinists younger than myself and they're like "who?"

So do I

This is THE standard for this concerto.

@@rjsullivanjr This piece isn't really known outside of the violin world. Audiences generally don't know it. When it is played, it's usually played on - for instance - Sunday afternoon concert programs versus a big concerto performed on a subscription concert series of an orchestra. There are always exceptions to that rule for pieces like this I suppose but there are many concertos that never get performed, or get performed only very infrequently and this is one of them.

@@rjsullivanjr This standard will never be reached imo

He was one of the greatest to play the instrument. You were lucky to have heard him. Thankfully he did leave behind a lot of recordings for us to enjoy. About 35 years ago when I was a little kid, one of my uncles gave me a tape recording of an album that was originally released in the 1950s called "The Magic Bow". I'd never heard of Rabin before this. I was hoping he was still alive, and then I went for a lesson with my teacher...who like Rabin also studied with Galamian (my teacher studied with him even before Rabin was his pupil!) My teacher pointed over to the wall and said, "You see that picture there? That's Rabin - and you see, he even autographed it to me!" I'd seen the picture before but thought it was just some violinist. But when I asked if he was still alive, the response was "No, he died quite a few years ago now at a very young age." There was no Google or RU-vid in those days (late 1980s) so I couldn't look him up. I was heartbroken!! But ever since, I have tried to find and listen to all of his recordings.

@@andresrozsa637 When I was a little kid I studied at Julliard for a bit and I can unequivocally say that Rabin is the greatest violinist of all time. He is to violin what Evgeniy Kissin is to piano. Untouchable.

@@rushwarp Yeah, too bad Rabin died so young. I've been listening to him since I myself was a little kid in 1989. Yes, he is untouchable. He wanted to be friends with Heifetz but I think Heifetz saw him as too much of a competitor; after all, they were both out there concertizing actively at that time, in the 50s (Heifetz retired in the 60s but Rabin kept going.) Rabin said he wanted to grow up to play like Heifetz but he surpassed him. He was FAR more musical and had a much better tone. With all due respect to the incomparable Heifetz Kissin...well, I'll keep my mouth closed about him but one of my teachers said, "He's a complete flyweight. There is nothing to his playing. He hits all the notes and nothing more." The teacher said the same thing about his friend Martha Argerich. Anyway you're lucky to have studied at Juilliard...were you there at the same time Rabin was there studying with Galamian? I heard that as Rabin got older and concertized/recorded less and less, he took on some students but not many, he referred most to Dorothy Delay at Juilliard (not sure why he did that; she's known as the greatest teacher in the history of the violin but I've heard and read so much to the contrary including from those I've known who studied with her.) Thank you!

@@andresrozsa637 They were saying the same thing about Rabin that your teacher said about Kissin. That he hits all the notes but is not musical and lacks touch. The reason for that imo is both of them have perfect timing which appears mechanical to certain listeners. A little like Glen Gould. But underneath that is so much more. Go check out Kissin. :)

@@rushwarp I have checked out his recordings. To me he's just not much different than about 50 other pianists. Ditto for his friend Martha Argerich, in fact. They're both very good, but Kissin especially is no legend. Argerich is also not a heartwarming pianist at all. I also encountered someone who had to have dinner with her one time many years ago and said that she was "impossible." Don't get me wrong, both have gotten extremely wealthy off of their virtuoso piano playing. Then again, there are other classical artists who have too - I could probably name 20 right now - but it's hard to think of them as anything more than mediocre musicians who, as I say, hit all the notes and nothing more.

And heifetz

@@arashkeyani2578 I know for a fact Heifetz learned it, but I'm unsure if he ever performed it. It's such a risky and technically demanding piece, and since Heifetz had a reputation of sheer technical perfection, he wouldn't want to jeopardize that in any way. That could be a reason he never recorded it, along with the fact that it's not as musically mature as Wieniawski's second concerto.

Yes it is too bad. He may have recorded it and it was just never released outside the former USSR. A lot from the old days was lost!

@@violintegral Heifetz is very good at short technical pieces, like his hora Staccato recording is impeccable. I would prolly take others for Concertos and what not (I'm not saying Heifetz is bad at concertos in any way tho)

I never understood the big fuss over Heifetz. He was a good violinist --- but too "cold" for me. I mean many others are as technically proficient as he was, but with more soul. I've felt that way since childhood. Perlman, however, has got it all. And somehow, as impossible as it seems, he just keeps getting better ---- albeit a smidge at a time these days. Perlman and Rabin are the best, w/Milstein right up there.

Not quite. Rabin is in his own class. Gil is great though.

Not quite.