Search - Fritz Kreisler, Josef [Composer] Suk, Christoph Willibald Gluck :: The First Recordings of Ginette Neveu; The Complete Recordings of Josef Hassid

Genius of only 16 years!!!!

Shinglung Tseng | 09/17/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For me, Josef Hassid is perhaps the most extraordinary gifted violinist I'have ever heard. I can't describe the beauty of his playing. It seems to come from another planet."

Pathos and beauty luminate in Hassid's complete recordings

A. Armstrong | 11/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have grown up listening to many, many violinists, but was never exposed to Josef Hassid until a few months ago, after watching the "Great Violinists of the 20th Century," a documentary. Hassid was mentioned briefly in the section of the film devoted to child prodigies--a short clip of Achron's Hebrew Melody (which is on this cd) played in the background as a black and white photograph of Hassid slowly faded out. The Melody was so haunting, tragic, and passionate it convinced me to look into this young violinist who died from a brain operation in an asylum.

I was not disappointed. Hassid's only recordings here are beautiful beyond words, and nearly perfect--the Humoresque is enough to bring tears to your eyes, while the Kreisler pieces are played with empathy and a suave sort of urgency; the Tchaikovsky piece is gorgeous--Hassid sings with the violin like no one I have ever heard. The dynamics and rubato of his interpretations are so natural and emotional it is almost hard to believe he was 16 years old when this recording was made. Personally, Josef Hassid is my favorite violinist of all time, and this includes Perlman, Heifetz, Menuhin, Oistrakh and anyone else. I base this opinion on these 8 or so tracks.

Neveu, another tragedy, is good as well, although her playing is not of as high a quality as Hassid's. Some of the repetoire presented is, however, very interesting (for instance, the Chopin transcription). But this cd is more a beautiful and tragic testiment to a brilliantly gifted young man, whose name, if things had been different, we might have recognized as easily as Heifetz or Perlman."

The way he played it.... he couldn't be normal...

Shinglung Tseng | Yardley, PA, USA | 12/22/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"and he was probably disturbed before... That's what a French violinist said of Josef Hassid in a recent PBS broadcast of "The Art of Violin".The Polish violinist was born in 1923. After a spetacular debut in London, Hassid became seriously ill (memory loss, becoming sullen and withdrawn). He died in 1950, at the age of only 26, in a hospital under the cause of acute schizophrenia.What a loss... Listen to this CD. You will not believe a 16-year boy could hold so much emotion, and he certainly knew how to articulate that through his violin without getting too sentimental.To me, this CD more than qualifies as a legendary recording. Most highly recommended."