Catalogue | Chamber Music

Erica Morini (1905-1995), born and trained in Vienna, managed, as one of the first female violinists of the first half of the twentieth century, to build an international career.
This was unusual at a time when the concert platforms were still dominated by male soloists. Morini started out as a “wunderkind”; following sensational débuts with the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig and the Berlin Philharmonic under Arthur Nikisch, she performed at Carnegie Hall in New York for the first time in 1921. Morini, who was of Jewish descent, emigrated to the US in the late 1930s, extending her career in that country. Her artistic career lasted for over five decades; however, she only made few commercial recordings. Morini is particularly impressive in live recordings, including this concert recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto made in 1952 with the RIAS Symphony Orchestra Berlin and Ferenc Fricsay. Her enormous violinistic art becomes apparent in an exemplary fashion, explaining why Morini was considered by some to be the greatest violinist of the twentieth century. Her sophisticated mastery of virtuoso pieces and baroque sonatas is also impressively documented by the RIAS recordings with Michael Raucheisen.

There is a “Producer’s Comment” from producer Ludger Böckenhoff about this production available at http://www.audite.de/en/download/file/301/pdf.

The production is part of our series „Legendary Recordings“ and bears the quality feature „1st Master Release“. This term stands for the excellent quality of archival productions at audite. For all historical publications at audite are based, without exception, on the original tapes from broadcasting archives. In general these are the original analogue tapes, which attain an astonishingly high quality, even measured by today‘s standards, with their tape speed of up to 76 cm/sec. The remastering – professionally competent and sensitively applied – also uncovers previously hidden details of the interpretations. Thus, a sound of superior quality results. CD publications based on private recordings from broadcasts or old shellac records cannot be compared with these.

• andante | January 1, 2011

  Erica Morini
  koreanische Rezension siehe PDF...

• auditorium | January 1, 2011

  Erica Morini
  koreanische Rezension siehe PDF...

• Bayern 4 Klassik - CD-Tipp | Fridemann Leipold | November 30, 2010

  Erica Morini Violinvirtuosin alter Schule
  Diese hervorragend restaurierten Tondokumente rufen die Erinnerung an eine Violinvirtuosin alter Schule wach, deren Nachruhm bedauerlicherweise hinter...

• Diapason | Jean-Michel Molkhou | January 5, 2011

  Erica Morini
  Adulée jusqu' à sa retraite en 1976 puis injustement oubliée, Erica Morini reprend peu à peu sa place au panthéon des violonistes grâce à...

• Diverdi Magazin | Roberto Andrade | January 3, 2011

  Nacida en la Viena imperial
  Audite dedica un CD monográfico a la gran violinista Erica Morini
  En la actualidad, el panorama del violín registra una abundancia de nombres femeninos: Mullova, Mutter, Julia Fischer, Arabella Steinbacher, Lisa...

• Fanfare | Robert Maxham | January 5, 2011

  Audite’s release devoted to violinist Erica Morini falls into two parts: a live performance of Tchaikovsky’s concerto from October 13, 1952, and...

• Fono Forum | Michael Kube | January 2, 2011

  Überragend frisch
  Noch immer gilt selbst unter Kennern die in Wien geborene Geigerin Erica Morini (1905-1955) als Geheimtipp. Dass sie es trotz eines glänzenden...

• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung | Jan Brachmann | January 15, 2011

  Gedenkblatt für Erica Morini
  Verwischte Existenz
  Weich gezeichnet sind die Züge der brünetten Frau mit dem weißem...

• Gramophone | January 3, 2012

  Erica Morini
  Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto
  Morini, Austrian-born but naturalised American, played under Nikisch at the age of 14. Her view of the Tchaikovsky Concerto combines brilliance with...

• Gramophone | Rob Cowan | January 4, 2011

  Rob Cowan's monthly survey of reissues and archive recordings
  Brilliant recollections - Bumper box sets at super-budget price
  Brilliant Classics mighn't provide the ultimate in useful documentation – most of their boxed reissues don't carry any at all – but for genuine...

• La Musica | January 1, 2011

  Erica Morini
  koreanische Rezension siehe PDF...

• Musica | Stefano Pagliantini | January 12, 2011

  Considerata una delle maggiori violiniste del ventesimo secolo, al pari delle poco più giovani Gioconda de Vito, Guila Bustabo e Ginette Niveau,...

• Pizzicato | Alain Steffen | January 4, 2011

  Erica Morini, die Vergessene
  Kaum einer kennt heute noch die Violinistin Erica Morini, die sicherlich eine der ersten Sologeigerinnen der Geschichte war. Sie debütierte 1917 im...

• Strings Magazine | Edith Eisler | January 9, 2011

  Erica Morini plays Tchaikovsky, Tartini, Vivaldi, Kreisler, Brahms, and Wieniawski
  Born in Vienna in 1904, Erica Morini started her career as a spectacular child violin prodigy. At the age of eight, she became the Vienna Music...

• The Strad | Tully Potter | January 1, 2011

  Here is a portrait of the marvellous Erica Morini (1904-95) as she was in Berlin in 1952. She is playing favourite music, starting with a live...

• theartsdesk.com | Graham Rickson | February 26, 2011

  Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto (plus works by Tartini, Kreisler, Brahms, Vivaldi and Wieniawski)
  Erica Morini (violin), RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester, Ferenc Fricsay (recorded 1952) (Audite)
  Described by one commentator as “probably the greatest woman violinist who ever lived”, Erica Morini (1905-1995) responded curtly by saying, “A...

• thewholenote.com | Bruce Surtees | January 2, 2011

  Old wine in new bottles – Fine old recordings
  Erica Morini was not merely one of the greatest female violinists but one of the greatest violinists of all time. Born in Vienna in 1905, her father...