Ida Haendel

Despite the fact that many of today’s star violinists -- among them both Anne-Sophie Mutter and Maxim Vengerov -- regard Ida Haendel with awe, she is concerned about certain developments in the music world. She fears many young musicians succumb to commercial pressures.

"We live in a different world, a different society that is corrupting the whole idealism of pure art,” says Haendel. "Performers trying to impress audiences visually sacrifice the purity of their art. I don’t do that. I want to reach them via their ears."

She often finds the attitude of orchestral managers and conductors very disturbing when, for instance, they prefer "bare shoulders to bold interpretation."

Life with Decca

Ida Haendel has never married. Today her travelling companion is a small Pekingese dog named "Decca," after the company that gave her her first recording contract. Her father, she says, was the most important man in her life. Sergiu Celibidache -- the great Romanian conductor -- was the one other man in her life, and she enjoyed a 35-year friendship with him.

Now in her early seventies, she says she has more to offer as a musician today than ever before. This is quite believable. Both physically and musically, Ida Haendel is much younger than her years.

"I am still trying to discover everyday what there is in the music," she says "That’s my eternal fascination, the discovery and rediscovery of every piece of music I play."

Breandáin O'Shea