Iom Voicu - The Decca Recordings

Ion Voicu was a legend in his own country, Romania, and in the profession at large, and appeared in most major musical centres. Yet he was not as well known in the English-speaking countries as he should have been. The long cold war and the dictatorial regime in his native land were mainly to blame for this state of affairs; but fortunately Voicu was able to make a few precious recordings on visits to the west.Ion Voicu was born into this gypsy tradition in Bucharest on 8 October 1923. His father was a violinist and the family could trace their musical involvement back 300 years. He made his concert d�but aged sixteen, with Paganini's First Concerto. Ion Voicu died in Bucharest on 24 February 1997. 'He was an outstanding violinist with a superb technique,' says his Romanian successor Sherban Lupu. 'His performances of the Paganini First Concerto were spectacularly memorable. I grew up as a small boy with him as a model for me, an aspiring young student. He was a very pleasant man � I got to know him better in 1974 when he was a member of the jury at the Carl Flesch competition in London and I was a prizewinner.'His Decca recordings ranged from the popular � the Mendelssohn and Bruch Concertos, a favourite coupling in the LP era � to the highly discriminating. This collection, bringing together his three recordings for Decca, include several twentieth-century sonatas for violin and piano with Monique Haas and Voicu's compatriot Victoria Stefanescu.All these recordings receive their first release on CD, and Tully Potter provides the insightful liner notes.