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Title: Fast.
Review: Yes. He did play fast. Yes, he played every note. Yes, he is in tune. But as the previous reviewer notes (with 5 stars nonetheless), the Beethoven has to be the most emotionally detached ever recorded. Is this following "the composer's intentions"? Given the other works Beethoven wrote during the same period, it seems extremely unlikely.This is a "radical, off-the-wall" rendering, rather than a traditionalist one. No amount of technique can cover up for that fact. And the reality is it is not even very musical. Listen to the divinity of the Menuhin/Furtwangler recording, or that of Kreisler, or even, much more recently, Hilary Hahn's, and one easily sees that Heifetz is way off base. Yes, I admire his technique, greatly, but it is technique used for no discernible or serviceable purpose. It is a waste of talent, or not worth listening to more than once.
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