Jascha Heifetz on Compact Disc

Throughout his lengthy career, the late Jascha Heifetz was held in awe by fellow violinists for showing them that nothing was technically impossible. At the

same time, he was excoriated as all flash and no substance by the most high-minded critics (and not all of them are fools), most prominent among them the waspishly brilliant Virgil Thomson, who could never be accused of being a critic by default.

Thomson made of every New York appearance by Heifetz an auto da fe , with the violinist as victim.

Example: a 1940 recital, in which the critic noted his subject’s “justly remunerated mastery of the musical marshmallow,” and compared him to Sarah Bernhardt, “with her famous ‘small voice of purest gold’ and mastery of the wow technique. First-class plays got in her way . . . Heifetz is at his best in short encore pieces and in lengthy chestnuts where every device . . . is laid out, like the best evening clothes and the best jewelry, for Monsieur to put his elegant person into. No destination, no musical or emotional significance is implied.”

Obviously, Thomson was at least as much concerned with what was played as how it was played--and Thomson had no tolerance for second-rank music. The critic noted that whether marshmallow or masterpiece, the music came out sounding like Heifetz.

No doubt, Heifetz had a style; that the music did not necessarily conform to this style was of no concern to him. To Thomson, the stunning Heifetz way with Bruch and Lalo and Saint-Saens was proof that he had no taste and could therefore not play the undisputed masters.

All sides of the argument can be examined in the latest batch of compact disc rereleases by RCA of material originally recorded between 1940 and 1970.

While it may be unfair to make such a sweeping statement, it is difficult not to feel that Beethoven’s sonatas for violin and piano--recorded between 1947 and 1960--are, in Heifetz’s hands, very much not of a particularly attractive piece.

The violinist does not characterize the sonatas individually or by chronological groupings. They are nearly all rushed and aggressive, which tends to reduce their scale, with numerous instances of line-smudging portamento and “expressive” slides better suited to late-Romantic material.

Which is not to say there aren’t shining moments--which, interestingly, have little to do with virtuoso dazzle. They come in several slow movements, played with unexaggerated sweetness of tone and relaxed lyricism.

Listen for instance, to the elegant restraint of the Adagio in No. 3, with the late Emanuel Bay’s stylish pianism setting the tone, or the long, strong lines of the grazioso middle section of No. 8. But then, Heifetz could turn around and violate the shape of a slow movement with excessive bow-pressure and bloated, fussy dynamics--as in Sonata No. 6.

Bay, a fluent and skillful pianist, is clearly just following orders most of the time, which tends to upset balances. Brooks Smith plays the faithful servant in No. 9, the “Kreutzer.”

The sonata couplings are as follows: Nos. 1-4 (7704); Nos. 5-7 (7705); Nos. 8-10 (7706). All are mid-priced RCA Victor (as the company is once more called) Gold Seal compact discs.

There is at least as much technical wow--and even less stylistic identification--in Heifetz’s fast, ferocious traversal of the unaccompanied sonatas and partitas of J. S. Bach (7708, 2 midpriced CDs). Notably absent is any specific characterization of the dance movements, with Heifetz insisting on being the fiery flamenco dancer where Bach calls for the stately practitioner of the Sarabande.

To find “the greatest violinist of the century,” listen elsewhere, but to the same man. For who but Heifetz has ever imparted such dignity, such a firm sense of line, such beauty of tone to Bruch’s G-minor Concerto and “Scottish” Fantasy (with Vieuxtemps’ Concerto No. 5, on 6214, full-priced Red Seal CD)? Or shown what grandly affecting music it can be?

And how much more than the title of the collection, “Showpieces,” he conveys in the virtuoso staples for violin and orchestra of Lalo, Sarasate, Saint-Saens and Chausson (7709, mid-priced CD). How sweet and strong in tone, how insinuating the rhythm of his Saint-Saens “Havanaise”--a model for all violinists.

Finally, consider the piano-accompanied (Brooks Smith) transcription encores by Debussy, Ravel, Ibert and Poulenc--with a hectic Faure Sonata in A and a shapely, propulsive Saint-Saens D-minor Sonata (7708, midpriced CD)--which bloom under the violinist’s masterful, affectionate touch.

No, Debussy’s “La Chevelure” isn’t the “Kreutzer,” but in the hands of Jascha Heifetz it is a bit of magic.