Ginette Neveu was a French musical prodigy, more in the mold of Menuhin
than Heifetz, who was first taught by her mother, and then entered the
Paris Conservatory only to graduate with the same speed as Wieniawski
many years earlier.  Later she was noticed at an international competition
by Carl Flesch, who then became her principal teacher.  If I remember
correctly, she skyrocketed to fame by winning the first Wieniawski
competition of 1935, at the tender age of 16 beating out the heavy
favorite, 29-year-old David Oistrakh.  Her playing is characterized by a
very lush tone, but one which is capable of many different shades of color.
Her vibrato also has different speeds, and this flexibility of both her
hands, together with her carefulness to never lose sight of the overall
direction the piece was going in, made her one of the great interpreters of
music during her short life.  As mentioned above, she was not a Heifetzian
virtuoso, but when it came to the established violin repertoire of the
time she did not disappoint.  Her studio recording of the Brahms is highly
regarded, and some people consider her studio recording of the Sibelius
the finest on record.  As one who has heard both of these recordings and
others, I've tended to gravitate toward her live recordings, which are more
spontaneous and exciting.  (She was an inveterate practicer.  The liner
notes of the Brahms CD (on EMI), I think, mentioned that she practiced so
much during the recording sessions that by the end she was bleeding at her
neck.  Of course, this would affect your spontaneity.) Of all the Neveu
recordings I have, the Tahra set is probably my favorite (for combination
of sound quality and music-- I have a real issue with the sound quality of
Music&Arts), followed closely by, well, the Musci&Arts disc of her doing
live performances of the Beethoven concerto, the Chausson Poeme, and the
Ravel Tzigane.  The Beethoven is an absolutely masterful performance, and
the Tzigane was a warhorse for her, but for me the personal favorite is the
Chausson Poeme, I think conducted by Charles Munch.  It's a great piece,
and I've heard a lot of people perform it, but I don't think any create the
musical and emotional impact that she does.  It's brooding at its very
best.:-)

hector aguilar