side 1
Dvorak: SLAVONIC DANCE, Op.72, No.2
Kreisler: TAMBOURIN CHINOIS, Op.3
Debussy–Hartmann: PRELUDE, BOOK 1–No.8,; La fille aux cheveux de lin
Kroll: BANJO AND FIDDLE
Sarasate: INTRODUCTION AND TARANTELLE, Op.43
side 2
Falla–Kreisler: LA VIDA BREVE – SPANISH DANCE No.1
Schumann–Heifetz: WALDSZENEN, Op.82–No.7, – Vogel als Prophet
Kreisler: LA CHASSE (after Cartier)
Chopin–Sarasate: NOCTURNE IN E FLAT, Op.9, No.2
Wieniawski: POLONAISE BRILLIANTE No.1 IN D, Op.4
In 1950, when Michael Rabin made his official début with the Philharmonic in his native New York City, conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos spoke of him as ‘the violin genius of tomorrow’. Sadly, although Rabin acquired a reputation as a coruscating virtuoso, his death in 1972, aged only 35, prevented the full blooming of his talent. Among his celebrated recordings for the Capitol label was a 1959 album of encore pieces entitled Mosaics; and his last Capitol sessions in 1961 were devoted to a second sequence of ten pieces, with Brooks Smith – best remembered as Jascha Heifetz’s accompanist – at the piano. For reasons unrelated to the quality of the playing or the recordings, this anthology was never released, but Testament is proud to present it now.
