Henryk Szeryng

Paganini, Beethoven or Khachaturian, Mozart or Kreisler,
he made every work sound like a bona fide masterpiece.
Weaknesses
very occasionally, when accenting with a fast bow towards the
end of his career, Szeryng would play through a note before it
had focused properly, resulting in a glazed ‘whistle’. Some critics
detect an occasional hint of emotional reserve in his playing.
insTrumenTs and boWs
Szeryng’s principal instrument throughout his career was the
1745 ‘Leduc’ Guarneri ‘del Gesù’, which he considered a violin
without parallel. He generously gave away the dozen-or-so
other instruments he owned at various times, including the
‘Hercules’ Stradivari (a former Ysaÿe favourite), which he
donated to the state of Israel in 1972, his ‘Messiah’ Stradivari
copy by vuillaume, which he later presented to Prince
Rainier III of Monaco, and the ‘Sancta Theresia’ Andrea
Guarneri, which went to Mexico City.
reperToire
Szeryng was one of the most widely recorded of modern
violinists. Out of a regular playing repertoire of some 250 pieces
www.thestrad.com
Despite the aristocratic
precision of his technique,
Szeryng made everything
look effortless
he took more than 150 into the recording
studio, although currently the majority
of these are awaiting reissue or in some
cases transfer to CD. The essential
purity of Szeryng’s playing style and
interpretative vision can be savoured
especially in music of the Baroque and
Classical eras. His exemplary recording of
Bach’s accompanied sonatas with Helmut
Walcha is available as a Japanese import,
and although his peerless first stereo
recording of the Bach concertos (with
Peter Rybar in the ‘Double’ Concerto)
is difficult to find, the remake with
Maurice Hasson is also extremely fine.
Most celebrated of his Bach recordings is
the stereo set of the Sonatas and Partitas.
Szeryng was also a distinguished
Mozartian, as witness supremely
stylish accounts of the concertos with
Alexander Gibson (inexplicably the
Sinfonia concertante with Bruno
Giuranna has never appeared on CD)
and sonatas with Ingrid Haebler.
He gave the modern premiere of
Paganini’s Third Concerto, having tracked down the score
with the help of the composer’s two octogenarian greatgranddaughters.
He was a superb advocate of the central
20th-century repertoire, and several composers dedicated
works to him, including Carlos Chávez, Benjamin Lees,
Jean Martinon and Manuel Ponce.
EssEntial Facts
1918 Born in Warsaw, Poland
1930 Begins four years of study with Carl Flesch
1933 Makes debut in Warsaw with the Brahms Concerto
1933 Begins composition studies with nadia Boulanger
1939 gives some 300 concerts for the Allies during World War II
1946 Becomes a naturalised Mexican citizen
1954 resumes playing career at suggestion of Artur rubinstein
1970 Appointed Mexico’s special adviser to UnesCO
1983 Fiftieth anniversary tour of the Us and europe
1988 Dies in kassel, germany, aged 69
nexT monTh ISaac Stern
HenrYk szerYng
JULY 2009 The sTrad 29