Evans Mirageas talks about Ida Haendel

Ida Haendel was signed to the Decca Record Company as a teenage

Refugee prodigy in 1940. She was signed by one of Decca's legendary

A&R men, Harry Sarton. Ida had arrived not that long before to live

In London as a refugee with her parents from Poland and she became a

Student of Carl Flesch, one of his last students as a matter of fact

Her training was so complete and her playing was so amazingly mature

That no one could believe that this was a girl barely into her teens

But she was. She had the misfortune I think in retrospect of making

The bulk of her virtuoso prodigy records during the Second World War

And it was very very difficult for England to export anything like

Recordings outside of the shores. So by the time the end of the war

Came, Ida Haendel was no longer a blushing teenager but she was a

Fully mature artist, a young woman and I would imagine the fashion of

The day had passed on to the flowering of talent after the Second

World War and Ida for very complicated reasons left Decca at the end

Of 1947. But in those seven years she made some absolutely amazing

Recordings. The concerto recordings are wonderful. They suffer a

Little bit from rather constricted sound and sometimes not the most

Inspired orchestral accompaniment. But where Ida's great genius comes

To the fore is in the wealth of solo material, material she recorded

With piano with a variety of accompanists including a few with your

Wonderful pianist Noel Newton-Wood, her sister, as well as some of

The celebrated other accompanist types of her time. Those records

Were 78 rpm records and when Decca was sold to Polygram in 1980

There was a big clean out of all sorts of storage spaces. The studios

Were sold, a lot of things were consolidated, and very sadly, and I'm

Told somewhat mysteriously, a lot of the old metal masters from the

78 Rpm era simply disappeared. And so the Ida Haendel recordings that

Appear on this marvelous reissue disc that is a companion to her new

Recordings were all gathered with the kind assistance of the

Gramophone Magazine and the library at the BBC. I knew Ida Haendel

From my time in Boston. One of the first artists to come and play

With the Boston Symphony Orchestra after I joined at the end of 1994

And the beginning of 1995 was Ida Haendel. She had been engaged to

Play the Brahms Violin Concerto with her dear friend and advocate

Simon Rattle. Now Ida Haendel was no longer a young woman by

Anybody's estimation but she, when I met her for the very first time

Reminded me of the dictum that every artist must live by if they are

To remain fresh in that Ida Haendel has never let the child in her

Die. A sense of wonder about her approach to performance, a sense of

Rightness about what she is doing, supreme self-confidence as a

Musician, and a twinkle in her eye. Ida will be forever young

Whatever the calendar says and amazingly so, well now into her

Seventies, she has retained the freshness of youth both in her

Playing but the great maturity of an artist who's been before the

Public for sixty of her seventy plus years. Ida did not perform with

Simon Rattle on that occasion because Simon had to bow out of the

Engagement. His wife at the time was giving birth to their second

Child. Instead Klaus-Peter Flor conducted. And Ida and I spent a fair

Amount of time getting to know one another and I knew some of her

Recordings from her EMI era but I hadn't heard her play ever live and

Of course the result was an absolute revelation. When you are

Confronted with a great artist for the first time live it is still

Something that takes your breath away. We stayed in touch and when I

Came to the Decca Record Company I began to do some research. I never

Really knew that Ida Haendel was a Decca artist. And one day I was

Just rifling through archives and I came across her name and the

List of her recordings and I was flabbergasted. Almost simultaneous

To that Vladimir Ashkenazy phoned me and said, "Evans, I have just

Played in Berlin with Ida Haendel, a concerto. I want to tell you

With my hand on my heart anything you want me to record with this

Lady I will gladly do." And I said, "Well that's very ironic, Vova

Because of course she has made records for Decca before but fifty

Years ago." And he said, "Then we must, we absolutely must make a

New recording." I said, "Well I'd like to make a record of violin

And piano music, not a concerto. Because a concerto, not only is it

Expensive but it does not really show the greatest variety an artist

Can bring." And Vova was of course, since he is a phenomenal pianist

As well as a wonderful conductor, said, "I'd gladly do it." And we

Picked the record very very carefully to give a sense of cohesion to

Both who Ida is as an artist and where she's come from. So naturally

Szymanowski, the great Polish compatriot composer, had to be on the

Recording. Enescu, who was one of her teachers, had to be on the

Recording. And because she has such a gypsy in her soul we figured

That we could not have a record complete without some music of

Bartok. We also came up with the idea at the time that no one had

Heard ever this sort of comparison of Ida today and Ida at the very

Beginning of her career. And although some of the 78 rpm recordings

Have been issued on various other labels they've never been reissued

On Decca. With Ida's help we sat down and reviewed every single one

Of her older recordings we could find and this is her

Personal selection. And it is I think for anybody who will

Hear it a revelation. With no disrespect to the young

Prodigies of today, Ida Haendel was a great artist from the

Very beginning of her career and I'm very happy to say with

This new recording it shows that she still is six decades later