Almost exactly 20 years ago, in December 2001, I had the amazing honor of working on Bartok Nr. 2 in a Master Class that Ivry Gitlis gave in Hamburg, Germany. Within a one hour lesson he opened what felt to me like a whole new universe on how to approach not only this concerto, which I had been working on for a long time already at that point and thought to know pretty much everything about, but even more so to music in general. Although I don’t think anyone but him will ever get away with some of the bowings and phrasings he chose, he was a pure genius in his own rights and an incomparable inspiration. As violinists we are first and foremost critiqued on things like intonation and on how accurate our technique is, and of course for obvious reasons- we all know how much accuracy it takes to make a violin sound pleasant, and how annoying and terrible the sound will be until you invest the work and reach a certain threshold. However, this was nothing that I would have needed a master class for, as I had heard that from every teacher I had since I started playing the violin at the age of 8. The way he encouraged me to feel into the music, and the almost infectious passion and excitement that you could feel coming from him though; that was something I had never experienced before and that I will forever keep as one of the greatest musical gifts I ever received. Apart from that, he was delighted to learn from me that just a few days before that master class I had gotten my 9 weeks old Rottweiler puppy from the shelter that would become my most loyal companion for the following more than 12 years, as him and I shared not only our love for music, but also for dogs 😊

Ivry Gitlis became the violin when he played. What a true legend he was, can’t believe it’s been a year since his passing.

Oh my ... I have heard the Mendelssohn violin concerto only God knows how many times, and by how many players. I just love it. But THIS interpretation, really indeed blow my mind

People either love or dislike his style but can’t argue that he is an unique artist who has a distinct voice- hard to copy that. Some criticized that his Bach Chaconne was rough.. It touched my heart and made me teary?Interesting what people hear and feel when listening to him. For me, mostly I would rather listen to him than just pure/clean perfect playing.

absolute legend, his playing made the violin sing like no other violinist ive heard (appart from Szeryng!)

Such a very, very distinctive sound, from the Late, Great, Ivry Gitlis

He was Unique person, great heart. I had pleasure to play it for him on 2017, he even liked it

Very inspiring! It is easy to recognize Gitlis among hundreds of violinists, because his highly espressive style is so much personalized. And he does exude a magic spell in the Massenet Méditation, a piece perfectly suited to him. Also the Mendelssohn is great. Thankyou for the wonderful post.

Always a pleasure to watch and hear great violinists from the past perform. It's hard to find such recordings and your postings are of good quality. Thank you for posting.

Ivry Gitlis took violin lessons from the violinist and composer (and also pianist and conductor) George Enescu. Enescu studied composition with Massenet, and studied violin under Marsick, who arranged Massenet's Meditation for violin. Even though Enescu isn't very similar to either of his teachers, it's a remarkable connection. I wonder if he had the Meditation in his repertoire, if so it is deeply unfortunate that he never recorded it.

So different from current interpretations. Amazing

Ivry Gitlis is a wonderful gift of the nature, RIP to him 😞

I find his Mendelssohn a stark reminder as to why we should stop treating this concerto as ‘the easy’ major work to tackle first before moving on to the really meaty stuff. to really pull it off you have to be a true artist, not an artist in embryo :)

He has so much to say in his music making. Such a distinct voice.

really a great violinist...thank you for posting it

Gracias por compartir esta maravilla!👏👏👏👏👏💜🎶💜🎻🤗

INTENSITA' ASSOLUTA !

Marvelous!

Interesting interpretation for the meditation

Иври Гитлис величайший музыкант!💫🤍

I can see why every piece they say he makes this his own. Every violinist has probably played this, and you'd agree this sounds great and one of a kind

Thank you for uploading this inspiring video and for your tutorials (sevcik double stops)

beautiful performances ! Thank you ! 🙏🙏🙏

Love this type of videos that you upload 💖

Fantastico

It always looks so easy

What a legend!

and this video is playback. View is added later to music. I noticed on 12:43 when vibrato wasn't on the video and was in the sound. Anyway love it, just fantastic.

Juste fermer les yeux et écouter ce génie ❤😢

J aime beaucoup ce violoniste.

Unique form of playin violin, He has his own style

You taste became close to real violin sound, very good way.

Love it. Sadly, I can’t forward it to a student I’m encouraging to use ‘more’ vibrato. However, when he need s a model for really gut felt intuitive artistry I can send it without a qualm LOL.

❤😊

Only his violin hás this sound

Anyone knows what violin he is playing in this?

😭😭😭🎻🙏🙏🙏🙏🇨🇱😇

Ivry Hitliste privar

💜😰🌎🌍🎼🎵🎶🎄✌️✌️

Evli gitti keşke Bu eseri yorumlama saymış cazvari olmuyor bu eser

Typical Ivry, so unpredictable in his playing

His erratic self styled playing always puts me on edge.

99% of the violinists today still can't even 'rest' their violins as stable and tension-free as Ivry even after using fancy rocket science technology shoulder rest and NASA grade modification to their chin rests🤷🏿‍♂️.

Ivry n'aurait pas apprécié 😢

Une honte la coupure pub !!!!!

Странно играет Массне. Плохо.

The Meditation is completely preposterous and god awful.

la considero una de las mejores interpretaciones de toda la historia de esta obra con la personalidad de Gitlis.