Description

Allan Evans, producer of two Morini collections, wrote: “Erica Morini was born in Vienna in 1904 and was one of the last truly mythic violinists in history. In the 1920s & ’30s Morini became a staple of European musical life. She often collaborated with Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra until Nazi Germany came into power. Morini, being Jewish, fled to the United States to avoid persecution during the war. She continued her career in New York and became part of the generation of great mid-century violinists including Nathan Milstein, Jascha Heifetz, and Fritz Kreisler. Milstein, after his final appearance with Morini in Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, confided to her: “Erica, we are the last! Only with you do I want to play the double concerto.”

Just before she died in 1995 at the age of 91, her 300 year old Davidoff Stradivarius was stolen out of her apartment in New York, along with historic pictures, scores and letters. The Stradivarius was worth $3.5 million and there is a reward of $100,000 for information leading to the recovery of this rare instrument.”

This CD presents two previously unreleased public performance recordings from recently discovered broadcast transcriptions.

ERICA MORINI IN CONCERT: Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 (32:24) National Radio Orchestra, Horenstein, Paris, 12/19/57. Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 (35:27) Philharmonic – Symphony Orchestra, Szell, Carnegie Hall, 12/14/52. Previously unreleased broadcast transcriptions. Total Time: 67:58 UPC# 017685-11162-4.