Ida Haendel (violin) - Hoe Down (’Rodeo’ - Copland) (1950)

The 21 year old Ida Haendel plays ’Hoe Down’ from Copland’s 1942 score for the ballet ’Rodeo,’ recorded on 18 May 1950 with piano by Gerald Moore. This is a truly amazing and engaging performance of a work which normally wouldn’t enthuse me - but in Haendel’s hands it becomes a masterpiece! From Wikipedia: Ida Haendel, CBE (15 December 1928 – 1 July 2020) was a Polish-British-Canadian violinist. Haendel was a child prodigy, her career spanning over seven decades. She also became an influential teacher. Born in 1928 to a Polish Jewish family in Chełm, Poland, her talents were evident when she picked up her sister’s violin at the age of three. Major competition wins paved the way for success. Performing the Beethoven Violin Concerto, she won the Warsaw Conservatory’s Gold Medal and the first Huberman Prize in 1933, at 5 years old. At the age of seven she competed against towering virtuosos such as David Oistrakh and Ginette Neveu to become a laureat