The 20th-Century Masters — Kreisler, Heifetz, Oistrakh, Milstein

The Masters of an Age When “Sound” Remains

Thanks to recording technology (previous article), the performances of 20th-century master violinists remain forever and became models. Their “sound” can still be heard, and they set the standards of performance. This article traces the representative masters.

Kreisler — Viennese Elegance

Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) was born in Vienna. His sweet, elegant tone was the byword for “Viennese” grace:

• A distinctive constant vibrato and a warm sound
• His own short pieces (“Liebesfreud,” “Liebesleid,” “Schön Rosmarin”) are beloved
• He once presented pieces as “discovered works of old composers,” later confessing they were his own (a famous anecdote in music history)
• A great star of the early recording era, the embodiment of the “singing” violin

Heifetz — “the King of the Violin”

Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) is widely called the greatest violinist of the 20th century. Born in Lithuania (then the Russian Empire), later to America:

• In 1917, at 16, he made his Carnegie Hall debut, stunning audience and critics
• Flawless technique, unerring intonation, a brilliant sound — “faultless” playing
• An aristocratic style with restrained emotion — some criticized it as “cold,” but there was passion held within
• He left a vast body of recordings and became the model for all later players as the summit of technique

A famous anecdote: when a critic said “Heifetz’s playing is too perfect, it’s boring,” another musician retorted, “Then you try being that perfect.” Perfection itself was an art.

Oistrakh — the Soviet Giant

David Oistrakh (1908-1974) was a great violinist of the Soviet Union (Odessa, Ukraine):

• A warm, rich tone and large-scale music
• Shostakovich (Concertos Nos. 1 and 2) and Prokofiev wrote for him
• Immensely popular in the West even during the Cold War, a musical bridge between East and West
• A fine contrast to Heifetz’s “perfect coldness” with his “human warmth”

His son Igor Oistrakh was also a violinist. He embodied the summit of Soviet string education (the Russian school).

Milstein — the Man of Pure Style

Nathan Milstein (1903-1992) was born in Odessa, the same hometown as Oistrakh:

• A poised, pure, unexaggerated, noble style
• Known for his landmark recordings of Bach’s solo works — a constructive, limpid Bach
• Active until nearly 90, with a long performing life
• Also wrote his own cadenzas and arrangements

Milstein is respected as a seeker-like master who pursued “purity of style.”

Menuhin — the Man of Humanity

Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) was an American-born prodigy who later flourished in England:

• A child prodigy who debuted at 7
• The legendary recording of the Elgar Concerto conducted by the composer himself (at 16)
• Commissioned Bartók’s Solo Sonata (previous article)
• After WWII, a humanitarian activist who performed in Germany, the former enemy country, appealing for reconciliation
• Also devoted to Indian music (collaborations with Ravi Shankar) and music education (the Menuhin School)

Menuhin embodied “peace and education through music” and broadened the social role of the performer.

The Combination of Master and Masterwork

The 20th-century masters each carried a masterwork:

Player	Main instrument	Lineage
Heifetz	Guarneri del Gesù	powerful (del Gesù school)
Kreisler	Guarneri del Gesù, etc.	sweet sound
Oistrakh	Stradivari	rich sound
Milstein	Stradivari “Goldman”	pure sound

As seen in the second article, the combination of the player’s individuality and the lineage of the instrument (Strad/del Gesù) made each “sound.”

The Overwhelming Presence of the Russian School

A feature of the 20th-century violin is the overwhelming number of players from Russia (the Soviet Union):

• Heifetz, Milstein, Oistrakh — all from the Imperial Russian / Soviet sphere
• Many masters came from the pupils of the great teacher Leopold Auer (the man who at first refused the Tchaikovsky concerto)
• The system of Russian string education drove the 20th-century performance standard

This tradition of the Russian school is inherited by today’s players (next article).

From This Article to the Next

We have traced the 20th-century masters of the recording age. The next article turns to the contemporary violinists — the warm humanity of Perlman, the queen of today Anne-Sophie Mutter, the intellectual Hilary Hahn, and the multifaceted Joshua Bell — approaching the masters active from the late 20th century into the 21st.