Huberman Festival 1982 (2CD)

An extraordinary galaxy of violinists came together in Tel Aviv in December 1982, for a week of concerts to celebrate the life and vision of Bronislaw Huberman. He was the great Polish violinist, born in 1882, whose Pan-European political beliefs were deeply affronted by the rise of the Nazis in Germany. He spent much of the 1930s trying to get Jewish musicians out of the clutches of Adolf Hitler, and in 1936 his efforts resulted in the founding of the Palestine Orchestra, which in 1948 became the Israel Philharmonic. Despite being involved in a terrible air crash which might have ended his career, Huberman continued to work on behalf of the orchestra until his death in 1947. For the Huberman Festival, the Israel Philharmonic’s Indian-born chief conductor Zubin Mehta brought together Isaac Stern, Ida Haendel, Itzhak Perlman, Ivry Gitlis, Henryk Szeryng, Pinchas Zukerman and Shlomo Mintz.

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Four of the violinists each played a ‘season’ comprising Vivaldi’s four concertos ‘The Four Seasons’. A Concerto Grosso for Four Violins (Stern, Gitlis, Haendel, Mintz) and Bach’s ‘Double’ Concerto (Stern, Mintz) As Tully Potter notes in his commentary for this release, ‘the great virtue of the 1982 Tel Aviv performances is that they feature artists who feel at home with the Israeli orchestra and audience and have nothing to prove: they can simply get on with it and make good music’.

TRACK LIST

CD 1

Antonio Vivaldi Concertos For Violin, Strings And Continuo, Op. 8 Nos. 1-4 ‘the Four Seasons’

CD 2

Johann Sebastian Bach Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins, Bwv 1043*

Antonio Vivaldi Concerto Grosso In B Minor For Four Violins, Op. 3 No. 10, Rv 580*

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sinfonia Concertante In E Flat Major For Violin, Viola And Orchestra, Kv 364