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Title: A golden tone and warmth from another age.
Review: Toscha Spiedel was one of Gershwin's Jascha, Toscha, Sascha, and Mischa in his song about famous fiddlers. A student of Auer at the same time as Heifetz, Spiedel failed to reach similar heights, partly due to a cranky personality and lack of discipline, though probably not lack of commensurate talent. He wound up in Hollywood. You will have heard him without knowing it in lush solos from movies of the Golden Age as principal violin at MGM. He also was a respected teacher in the LA scene (among his students being Michael Steinhart of Guarnieri Quartet fame). This disc is a pleasant one. The Brahms sonatas are well-done. The playing is somewhat old fashioned...more slides than we are used to today, and not as edited. But the golden tone is very much present. The sound quality is surprisingly good for 78 transfers. A must for students of violin history.
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