Mischa Elman
The world of music has been enriched beyond measure by the efforts of Jewish performers, conductors and composers. Today we highlight the talents of one of the great violinists of the 20th century, Mischa Elman.
Famed for his passionate style and beautiful tone, this world-famous virtuoso was the grandson of a violin-playing klezmer performer. By the age of six he was already understood to be a prodigy and when he was 11 he was admitted to the St. Petersburg Conservatory for further training.
He made his Berlin debut in 1904 at age 13 and his London debut a year later. While still in his teens he traveled to the USA to appear at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Fifty years later, in 1958, he celebrated this occasion with a wonderful return performance.
Elman’s recorded legacy spanned over 60 years. His first 78 rpm discs were made for Pathe, in Paris, in 1906. He continued recording until shortly before his death in 1967.
The Judaica Sound Archives has created six digitized “albums” from Elman’s 78 rpm discs produced by Victor/Victrola between 1906 and 1921.
Click either record label to hear any of the 77 songs in this collection.
Classical, General Interest, Judaic Collection, On-line music collections, Online Access, Performer Biographies, Performers
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Mischa Elman, Victor, Victrola, vintage phonograph recordings, violin
Themocracy
My prefernce: Jeifetz, Menuchin, Oistrach, Perelman, Huberman, Stern, Szigueti and any other after them.
Mischa Elman is famous for his heartfelt style and beautiful tone. For 60 years, he shines in the recording industry. He uses slow tempo with remarkable baroque technique and high-quality tone in playing the violin. His interpretation in music is a lot opposite to the contemporary practice of other performers.
Forgive me, I’m only an amateur music lover and sometimes it is hard for me to understand what experts have in mind, when they talk about music. What is the technique of the Baroque? I have visited this website because I thought about Elman in connection with Joshua Bell. Someone told me once that Gingold, Bell’s teacher has caught Joshua technique of Heifetz, Kreisler and Elman…