D. Oistrakh plays Concertos
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms
Label: The Originals
Magazine Review Date: 6/1995
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 142
Mastering:
Stereo
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: 447 427-2GOR2
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Violin and Strings |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
David Oistrakh, Violin Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Vienna Symphony Orchestra |
Concerto for 2 Violins and Strings |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
David Oistrakh, Violin Eugene Goossens, Conductor Igor Oistrakh, Violin Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Romances |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
David Oistrakh, Violin Eugene Goossens, Conductor Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra |
Johannes Brahms, Composer
David Oistrakh, Violin Franz Konwitschny, Conductor Johannes Brahms, Composer Staatskapelle Dresden |
Author: Edward Greenfield
Though his partners were the same in the DG recordings of both concertos, the venues were different, with some unwanted edge on the violin sound in the Berlin-made Brahms, where with East German engineers in the Dresden-made Tchaikovsky the solo violin is warmer, even if the orchestral sound is duller. In both the violin is balanced close. Both performances are welcome additions to the recorded oeuvre on CD of the supreme Soviet violin master.
The Bach and Beethoven offerings are hardly less welcome. The Bach Double Concerto, with Oistrakh father and son accompanied by Goossens and the RPO, first appeared in a coupling with the Beethoven Romances as well as the Vivaldi Concerto, Op. 3 No. 8, also for two solo violins. I am sorry that no room was found for that as well in this compilation, but it was obviously more important to have the two solo Bach concertos in the package, which within a few months of the original issue was the alternative coupling for the Double Concerto. There, with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Oistrakh himself directs from the solo violin, but tuttis tend to be rather solid rhythmically until his solo entries, which seem to lighten the playing of everyone. None the less, allowing for the performance practice of the time these are strong, warm performances which bring out both the sweetness and purity of Oistrakh's playing, not least in the rapt accounts of the slow movements. The first of the two Beethoven Romances brings wonderfully clean and true double-stopping at the start, and few performances of either work have matched these for ease and warmth. '
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