CD

Jascha Heifetz Plays Korngold, Rózsa, and Waxman (RCA Victor Gold Seal). I keep telling people that Miklós Rózsa, who is best known for having scored such Hollywood films as Double Indemnity and Ben-Hur, was also a first-rate classical composer, but somehow the message never seems to seep through. Instead of preaching yet another a sermon, allow me instead to direct you to Jascha Heifetz’s 1956 premiere recording of Rózsa’s Violin Concerto. I once described Rózsa’s music as “user-friendly Bartók,” and that’s not a bad way to sum up this masterly piece, whose musical language recalls the pungently folk-like modal coloration of Bartók but has an astringent romanticism all its own. Not surprisingly, Heifetz played it to the hilt, and this performance, handsomely accompanied by Walter Hendl and the Dallas Symphony, would be worth hearing even if the piece weren’t so good. It’s coupled, logically enough, with Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Heifetz-commissioned violin concerto and Franz Waxman’s “Carmen” Fantasy. Absolutely not for music-movie buffs only! (TT).