Camilla Wicks had it all -- a blazing technique, a radiant tone plus a compelling interpretive point of view, and, on top of that, she was a California blonde -- when she retired. Pregnant when she made her 1950 Carnegie Hall debut performing Beethoven's Violin Concerto with Bruno Walter leading the Philharmonic Symphony, Wicks stopped playing to raise a family of five children. As this recording shows, at the time Wicks was at the peak of her prodigious abilities: her command, her control, her power, her passion her clear, ...
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Camilla Wicks had it all -- a blazing technique, a radiant tone plus a compelling interpretive point of view, and, on top of that, she was a California blonde -- when she retired. Pregnant when she made her 1950 Carnegie Hall debut performing Beethoven's Violin Concerto with Bruno Walter leading the Philharmonic Symphony, Wicks stopped playing to raise a family of five children. As this recording shows, at the time Wicks was at the peak of her prodigious abilities: her command, her control, her power, her passion her clear, shining tone are all gloriously in evidence. Walter was clearly charmed by Wicks and he leads the Philharmonic in an accompaniment of the utmost poise and gentility. The two performances from three years earlier -- radio broadcasts of the finale of Sibelius' Concerto and the opening movement of Tchaikovsky's Concerto -- are equally fine and show what a daredevil virtuoso Wicks could be. Best of all is Wicks' performance of Bloch's Nigun, an astoundingly accomplished and...
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