DAVID OISTRAKH in an impressive collection

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

ALTO (www.altocd.com) will be releasing this September DAVID OISTRAKH: Violin Masterclass (AOTL3144.2) a ten CD set including 24 violin concertos from Bach to Vivaldi in addition to much chamber music featuring the famed Soviet violinist.

David Oistrakh – one of the greatest Russian violinists – here is heard in transfers by Paul Arden-Taylor. Oistrakh made recordings for Melodiya, the Soviet state classical music label, later marketed outside Russia by EMI in Great Britain, Angel in the United States, and most recently by Warner Classics.

Among the contents:

Bach, J S: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor; Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major; Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major

Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61; Romance No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra in G major, Op. 40; Romance No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra in F major, Op. 50

Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 9 in E minor; Hungarian Dance No. 8 in A minor; Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor; Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77

Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26; Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46

… and violin concertos and various compositions by Mendelssohn, Dvořák, Glazunov, Kabalevsky, Khachaturian, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Szymanowski, Hindemith, Vivaldi and Tartini.

Throughout many of the selections in this impressive collection Oistrakh’s playing of Baroque and Classical music by Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart is measured and sober, limpid and elegant. In Romantic music, especially that of his compatriots he excels with a formidable technique coupled to a broadly temperamental approach whether in the 19th century Tchaikovsky Violin concerto or in the 20th century works of Khachaturian, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich.

In a long line of Jewish violinists among which Gidon Kremer, Jascha Heifetz and Yehudi Menuhin stand out, David Oistrakh towers for his untiring devotion to his art even in the direst of circumstances during World War II, when he fearlessly played in its entirety Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in the central music hall during in the winter of 1942 while Stalingrad was being bombed by the enemy. 

Here he is playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kirill Kondrashin: https://youtu.be/VYHfS1urmGc

Rafael de Acha ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”