Beethoven’s Violin Concerto
Illustration by Emil Eugen Sachse, 1854 By Emil Eugen Sachse - Zweihundert Bildnisse und Lebensabrisse berühmter deutscher Männer, 3rd ed., Leipzig 1870, editor Ludwig Bechstein (Google Books); already present in first edition (1854): Google Books, Public Domain.
Beethoven's Violin Concerto has been the major test of a violin virtuoso's interpretive gifts for close to two centuries. In the 1930s, three great violinists made recordings of this work, Joseph Szigeti, Fritz Kreisler, and Jascha Heifetz. Each of these violinists was especially gifted in different ways.
On this week's Classics of the Phonograph, Saturday at 11 am on WILL-FM, we will hear them play one movement each of this great work.