"What can I say? Only Kreisler can play Kreisler. Get a discography of Fritz Kreisler and start hunting down everything you can find by this man. You can compare violinists; Heifetz has astounding technique, Milstein's always wonderful, Oistrakh is a favorite of many, Kogan can play anything, etc., etc., etc.. But Kreisler... is a unique personality of the violin. Yehudi Menuhin said of him in his autobiography, there are many great violinists with perhaps greater technique in this area or that; but "Kreisler mystifies me." Bruno Walter, the great conductor, said of Kreisler, "He did not play the violin; he BECAME the violin." and this is true. There is something special about Kreisler that transcends violin playing itself. Something heavenly is communicated by him with his instrument. Transfers from old disks are always of varying quality. Kreisler lived a long time ago and recording techniques were very primitive; but Kreisler even seems to rise above the pops and the clicks. Other artists are drowned out by them but Kreisler soars above them and makes one forget they are there. You're focused on the beauty and the background noise seems to disappear entirely. Other violinists have tried
to play Kreisler and perhaps get the notes right, most notably among them, Zino Francescatti (who plays Kreisler better than any other man except Kreisler), but only Kreisler can play Kreisler.
If you want to hear it best, put up with the background hiss. It's worth it. If you want a modern recording, see if you can find Francescatti's tribute album to Fritz Kreisler. it's OOP, but an LP in mint condition sometimes appears on an online auction service. Why the Francescatti album ever went OOP I do not know. He is the only modern violinist that ever really tapped into the soul of 'Fritz' when he plays Kreisler. If the disk is ever again released, snap it up before it goes OOP again. In the final analysis, modern violinists, at most, will give you a representative selection of only about 16 tracks and usually you get the worn chestnuts over and over again. Enough of Kreislers own recordings are still available that you can still get the whole gamut of his discography if you just look. Do so!"
Learn from the Old Masters!
meiringen | the Midwest | 06/30/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I love these historical recordings--they give us a chance to study the performance practices of the Masters. Kreisler was a genius, and his refined playing is something that should be listened to by the players of today. They can learn much from his example."
Perfection
Faddle | 03/08/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"No crap...really? OF COURSE THIS RECORDING IS A TRANSFER! YOU THINK THEY HAVE DIGITAL RECORDING TECHNOLOGY BACK THEN???? Man, that review from Delaware annoys me.Go with the first review. This recording is a must. It is one of the great violin recordings. Even my old violin teacher advise me to play some of Kreisler stuff to improve techniques. Kreisler is a legend. Lesson and appreciate the beauties of the violin."
Travel to the Old Vienna
Sergey Lenkov | Mother Russia | 01/25/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Sometimes the author isn`t the best performer of his own works. That`s not the case. I completely agree with the previous reviewer: yes, only Kreisler can play Kreisler.
While listening to this music you so wounderfully feel the spirit of the old Vienna, that most technically perfect record couldn`t compare with this impressions. Treat surface noise of the records made in 1912-1946 as the scent of that distant time (by the way, nearly the age gone) - and you would be completely satisfied, because the playing by Kreisler is so scincere and soulful. So if you like Kreisler - don`t think twice. This is CD for you."
Superb
Richard M. Rollo Jr. | Montebello, CA USA | 10/11/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Last summer I had several nights of terrible insomnia. I turned on the FM classical music station; something I don't do very often. They played several selections from this CD. Both the compositions and the performances were unforgettable. After receiving and listening to the cd, all of these are excellent compositions well performed.
This is a collection of Fritz Kreisler recordings going as far back as 1910. 1910! You might call those recordings Lucky to Have Any Fidelity. Yet you can hear performances that almost certainly don't exist in any other form.
So these do indeed sound like 78 rpm records played on a 78 record player. The transfer engineers disclaim any attempt to use "Radical methods to eliminate all surface noise...." My own experience with using equalizers is that it is usually better to "leave it flat" or as is.
Some of the comments indicate that people are bothered by it; I suppose young people who have only listened to digital recordings. If you only listen to perfect recordings, you will miss 90 per cent of the best music performances ever recorded, no matter the category. Just imagine people in the 1920's buying their first record player and hearing Kreisler's Liebesfreud while sitting on their sofa and thinking: could life be any better than this?"