A whole disc of Heifetz transcriptions? A whole disc of Heifetz encores would be more accurate. With every work either a breathless display of rampant virtuosity or of shameless display of rank sentimentality or both at the same time, this is disc so consistently amazing that it's ultimately exhausting. One or two or maybe even three tracks are astounding; more than that may be too much. It's not at all the performers' fault. Young Korean violinist Su Yeon Lee clearly has the technique to play anything that Heifetz could ...
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A whole disc of Heifetz transcriptions? A whole disc of Heifetz encores would be more accurate. With every work either a breathless display of rampant virtuosity or of shameless display of rank sentimentality or both at the same time, this is disc so consistently amazing that it's ultimately exhausting. One or two or maybe even three tracks are astounding; more than that may be too much. It's not at all the performers' fault. Young Korean violinist Su Yeon Lee clearly has the technique to play anything that Heifetz could play, from détaché sixty-fourth note runs to spiccato triple-stops to pianissississimo glissandos double-stops, and pianist Michael Chertock keeps pace with her every measure of the way. It's that the music is so quintessentially virtuosic that the sheer of intensity of the program can be numbing if heard all at once. Try Lee's supersonic tempo in Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumble Bee or her sensual textures in Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune or her exquisite vibrato...
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