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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Opinions of an expert, January 6, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Violin Virtuosos: From Paganini to the 21st Century (Paperback)
In this comprehensive volume, Mr. Roth focuses on the great violinists' PLAYING and recordings, rather than on biographical information. Since he is a professional violinist and critic with tremendous experience, many of his viewpoints are insightful and edifying. For instance, he convinced me that Paganini, as well as all the legendary violinists of the 19th century, probably didn't play as well as we imagined. A violin student can learn a lot from reading this book, e.g. he can try to emulate and assimilate all the merits of each great violinist. Yet, because the thrust of this book is his evaluation of the violinists' playing, he cannot avoid being subjective. For example, his ears are hypnotized by the tone and vibrato of Heifetz and Kreisler. He thinks that one should use vibrato for every note in a lyrical passage, and he believes that a white vibrato-less note has absolutely no expressive power. Therefore, he criticizes many violinists, including Oistrakh, for using vibrato in an "on-and-off" manner. After reading this book, I had the IMPRESSION that Mr. Roth's list of the greatest violinists ever PROBABLY goes something like this: =1. Heifetz =1. Kreisler 3. Oistrakh 4. Szeryng 5. Perlman 6. Kogan He also greatly admires Szigeti, Grumiaux, as well as Menuhin and Elman (in their youth). Among today's younger generation of violinists, he probably thinks Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Maxim Vengerov, Sarah Chang, and Leila Josefowicz are the most promising. I wrote the above assumption to give you an idea of Mr. Roth's taste. But even if you disagree with him, this book is still worth reading. It provides much valuable information you'll not find elsewhere, including opinions expressed by the greats themselves and a vast survey of the violinists' discography. Though Roth's comments are inevitably subjective, his professional observations can be taken as a reference, especially when you've got to understand his tastes. Of course, if you dislike Heifetz, you can pretty much ignore most of his adulations.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Careful: Roth's opinions dominate the book, December 17, 1998
By A Customer
It is, of course, admirable that Roth takes great effort to write articles of so many violinists. It can be used as a reference to dates and such information. But still, the book could have been more rightly named "WHAT ROTH THINKS ABOUT VIOLINIST from Paganini to the 21st century". As Mr Perng writes in the above customer review, Roth seriously does have biases. If you agree with Roth, good. If you disagree, that's when the trouble starts. For instance, also as Mr Perng has pointed out, Roth worships Heifetz. Being strong admirer of Milstein (I cannot say I hate Heifetz though), I must say this. Roth writes to say why Heifetz was more famous (or played better,as Roth strongly suggested) that Milstein. But those points were exactly those which made Milstein renowned for! They are Milstein's straightforward musical approach, aristocratic tone, "more people seem to want to play like Heifetz than Milstein", and most of all, Milstein's refusal to play music that was popular (or that "sell") which happened to be what he didn't like. How many artistes will stand up for such a belief these days? These reasons were those that made people like me, and especially the Viennese (who by the way, hate Heifetz)admire him! With such comments, Roth can frustrate the reader. But with superb pictures and select discography (careful of his comments - use them only as a guide), I found it still all right to buy the book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A must for violin lovers, April 30, 1999
This review is from: Violin Virtuosos: From Paganini to the 21st Century (Paperback)
Roth's book is an incredible survey of many of the greatest violinists, including some who are becoming forgotten by my generation. It is true that his opinions are sprinkled throughout, including his irritating comments about on-off vibrato. In case readers haven't noticed, it's a crime that he has lumped all women violinists together into a short section and essentially belittled their contributions. Kyung-Wha Chung and Anne-Sophie Mutter both offer more than, say, Pinchas Zukerman will ever amount to. To his great credit, he helps to introduce some wonderful insights into the playing of Henryk Szereng, Leonid Kogan, and Arthur Grumiaux (along with several others). This book is a must for every violin lover in an effort to remember and preserve the memories of these great musicians. Roth also is relaying a message to the next generation of violinists: help preserve the art of violin performance, but remember that musicianship and honest communication are of the utmost importance.
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