The Violin Concerto on Record

Records are instrumental in analyzing the history of performing traditions from the twentieth century onward and they have implications for theorizing virtuosity. There is a rich archive facilitating the comparison of different recorded interpretations of Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D Minor (op. 47). This chapter discusses select recorded examples of Sibelius’s violin concerto beginning with Jascha Heifetz’s 1935 recording, which is a key moment in the history of this work. It then turns to examples of particular historical interest by Anja Ignatius, Ida Haendel, and Haimo Haitto. Key topics include musical biography, the child prodigy, and women virtuosos carving out a new vista of gender equality in the twentieth century. The discussion highlights issues around interpretation that inform listening to recordings and studying the concerto as a performer.