Description

HEIMO VERNERI HAITTO (VIIPURI, FINLAND, 22 MAY, 1925 –  MARBELLA, SPAIN, 9 JUNE, 1999)

 

 

 

 

Heimo Haitto was born in Viipuri, Finland, to a family in which the father, a locomotive driver, was an amateur violinist. The son started to play violin as well, and the Russian-born pedagogue Boris Sirpo (1893–1967) took him not only as a student but as a foster son and raised him in Viipuri.

In 1939, the 13-year-old Haitto made his début with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and later that year he won the British Council music prize. The young violinist become famous, and his story inspired a fictional film, Pikku pelimanni (The Little Player) of 1939, in which Haitto played the leading role.

During the Winter War, Haitto partook a Red Cross concert tour which also visited the United States for the benefit of Finland. Haitto played at Carnegie Hall with Sir John Barbirolli, among other venues, and appeared in the 1941 film The Hard-Boiled Canary. In 1942 Haitto and Sirpo settled down in Portland, Oregon, and Haitto studied with Ivan Galamian in 1943–1945. Haitto was known for his virtuosity: he played the compositions of Niccolò Paganini in a faultless way, and he loved the music of J. S. Bach.

In 1945 Haitto became U.S. citizen and he married the cellist Beverly Le Beck, a wealthy heiress. They moved to Hollywood and Haitto worked with the film industry, then he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and played there till 1956. From the 1940s to 1960s, he also toured Finland and was awakened to Christianity in 1956. He played shorter periods also as a leader in the Metropolitan Opera orchestra and Hawaii Symphony. Haitto and Le Beck had two children, Nick and Kaarina.

After that, Haitto and his family moved to Switzerland and then Mexico, where he got the position of the leader in the Bellas Artes symphony orchestra, but ultimately his wife filed for a divorce because of his alcoholism and gambling. A dramatic change followed: Haitto left his family altogether, abandoned the violin and started to live as a vagabond in the U.S. and in Canada. The wandering life lasted till mid-1970s, when Haitto met the journalist Eva Vastari and they were married in Las Vegas in 1976. Haitto started to work as a musician again: he toured with his wife, accompanying her poetry recitals, first in the U.S., then they settled in Finland. He played in the Savonlinna Orchestra and the Joensuu Orchestra and taught at Savonlinna Conservatoire. He wrote two volumes of memoirs, remembering his wandering years.

Another film about his life followed in 1985: Da Capo by Pirjo Honkasalo and Pekka Lehto.

In the 1990s, Haitto suffered from hearing problems and he wasn’t able to play anymore. He spent his last years in Marbella, Spain, with his wife, and died in 1999. He was buried in Marbella, but five years later his remains were moved to Helsinki’s Hietaniemi cemetery.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

Heimo Haitto – Heimo Haitto

Label: Gabriell Records – 2453

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono

Country: US

Released: 1958

Genre: Classical, Folk, World, & Country

Style: Baroque, Spirituals, Folk

A1 Chaconne

Written-By – Bach

A2 Passacaglia

Written-By – Haendel

B1 Largo

Written-By – Haendel

B2 I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked

B3 It Took A Miracle

B4 Jesus, Rose Of Sharon

B5 Nobody Knows The Trouble

B6 I’d Rather Have Jesus

B7 Finnish Folksongs

Pressed By – Monarch Record Mfg. Co. – △19002

Cello – Beverly LeBeck (tracks: A2)

Piano – Aimee Wirkkala (tracks: B1 to B7)

Violin – Heimo Haitto

Gabriell Records

1600 S.E. Belmont

Portland, Oregon, USA

Comes with small booklet about Heimo Haitto.

Matrix / Runout (Runout side A): 2483 B SIDE-2 B-19002 △

Matrix / Runout (Runout side B): 2483 A SIDE-1 B-19003 △

 

Niccolò Paganini (1782–1840)

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6

Allegro maestoso

Adagio

Allegro spirituoso

Violin: Heimo Haitto

Conductor: Arvid Jansons

Orchestra: Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Radion sinfoniaorkesteri)

Source Material: Original magnetic master tapes from Yle. Recorded live in concert for radio broadcast.

 

Henri Vieuxtemps (1820–1881)

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 31

(Note: Erroneously designated on early labels as Concerto No. 5, this historical capture explicitly archives the complete movements of Vieuxtemps’ 4th Concerto)

Andante

Adagio religioso

Finale marziale

Violin: Heimo Haitto

Conductor: Ari Angervo

Orchestra: Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Radion sinfoniaorkesteri)

Source Material: Original magnetic master tapes from Yle. Recorded live in concert for radio broadcast.