Perhaps the greatest of all the "Russian" violinists of the twentieth century, happy in all aspects of the repertoire, David Fyodorovich Oistrakh was born, of Jewish parents, in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa on 30th September 1908. Initially known as David Kolker, he took the name of this stepfather, an amateur violinist himself who also owned a basement shop in the town. Oistrakh's mother, Isabella Stepanovka, was also a musician, singing at the state Operat House where she often took her young son to hear the orchestra as a special treat.
At the age of five, young David was presented with a one eight size violin and began studying both violin and viola seriously with the local teacher, Piotr Stolyaksky amongst whose other pupils was the great Nathan Milstein, with whom the young beginner was to share his first concert appearance in 1914, when Milstein graduated from the Conservatoire. In 1923, Oistrakh himself entered the Odessa Conservatoire where he studied until 1926 - here he played the Bach A minor Concerto and gave his first public solo recital. His 1926 graduation concert consisted of Bach's Chaconne, Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata, Rubinstein's Viola Sonata and Prokofiev's D major Concerto. By 1927, he was playing Glazunov's violin concerto in Kiev and Odessa with the composer conducting - a concert which gave him an invitation to play in Leningrad with the Philharmonic Orchestra under Nikolai Malko the following year.
In the same year, Oistrakh decided to move to Moscow where he gave his first recital and met his future wife Tamara Rotareva, a pianist, who he was to marry a year later. In 1931, their only child Igor was born, a son who was to follow in his father's footsteps and would be heard later playing violin with his father in works such as the Bach Double Concerto. From 1934 onwards he received a position teaching at the Moscow Conservatoire where he was made Professor in 1939. He soon found international fame by winning several national and internation competitions including the 1935 Soviet Union competition. Disappointment came when he gained only second prize, after the sixteen year old prodigy Ginette Neveu, at the Wieniawksi competition in Warsaw of the same year, but in 1937 he received first prize again at the Eugene Ysaye competition in Brussels. During the period he also began a lengthy friendship and partnership with the great Lev Oborin, as well as coming under the influence of Jacques Thibaud. The war years saw him active in the Soviet Union premiering the new concertos of Miaskovsky and Khachaturian as well as the two sonatas of his friend Prokofiev and winning the Stalin Prize in 1942. The final years of the war saw the blossoming of a friendship with Shostakovich which would lead to the two violin concertos and the sonata, all of which were to be premiered by and become firmly associated with Oistrakh in the following years. As well as these major events, Oistrakh spent much time during the war years, playing for soldiers and factory workers under intensely difficult conditions.
The end of the war allowed Oistrakh to travel aboard to countries in the Soviet block and even to the West. His first foreign engagement was to appear at newly founded "Prague Spring" Festival where he met with enormous success. In 1951 he appeared at the "Maggio Musicale" Festival in Florence, in 1952 he was in East Germany for the Beethoven celebrations, France in 1953, Britain in 1954 and eventually in 1955 he was allowed to tour the United States. By 1959, he was beginning to establish a second career as a conductor and in 1960 he was awarded the coveted Lenin Prize. His Moscow conducting debut followed in 1962 and by 1967 he had established a duo with the celebrated Soviet pianist Sviatoslav Richter.
1968 saw wide celebrations for the violinist's sixtieth birthday which included a celebratory performance in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory of the Tchaikovsky concerto, one of his favourite works, under the baton of Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Oistrakh was now seen as a companion to the great violinists of his time such as the Romanian Enescu and the British Menuhin. But by now, Oistrakh had already begun to suffer from the heart condition which would eventually kill him; he had suffered a heart attack as early as 1964. He continued to work at a furious pace and had already become one of the principal cultural ambassadors for the Soviet Union to the West in live concerts and recordings. Oistrakh was to die of another heart attack, far away from home in Amsterdam, after conducting a cycle of Brahms with the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Oistrakh's playing is notable for its sweetness, evenness of tone and its power, together with a lack of over-showiness and any aspects of coarseness and self-indulgence. He was a performer of wide tastes and enormous capabilities ranging from the works of Bach to the great twentieth century masterpieces of Shostakovich, Sibelius and Hindemith as well as revelling in the Romantic lyricism of Tchaikovsky and Bruch. As well as all this and giving premieres of notable works still associated with him and whose inital successes are due to him, he was a fine conductor, a superb chamber music player and a great teacher. It is inevitable that some of his later performances do not have quite the magic of those given at his peak but he remains the Soviet Union and perhaps the world's great violinist and teacher of the mid twentieth century.
Mendelssohn's E minor violin concerto is certainly one of the most popular and often played works of its kind and a perfect example of the Byronic Romanticism of its time. Completed in 1844, it took its composer six years to write the work for the violinist Ferdinand David, whose advice he took during the composition. The work in in three movements beginning with a soaring Allegro molto appassionato with a particularly lyrical second subject. The second movement is a serene Andante which leads to an infectious final Allegro vivace dance.
The Dvorak concerto dates from 1872 but after consultations with the great violinst of the time, Joachim, it reached its final stage in 1873. It is a happy work in Dvorak's typical folk based style, it remains a particularly fine example of a mixture of Brahms and the countryside Dvorak so loved.
Oistrakh will always be associated with the two great Shostakovich concertos, both of which he premiered. Whereas the earliest was composed in 1947-48, it did not receive its premiere until 1955 and contains some of the finest music for violin of the twentieth century - particularly in the central Adagio. The second concerto was conceived by Shostakovich as a present for Oistrakh's sixtieth birthday and returns to a conventional three movement form, showing the paring down that was typical of the composer's later works.
Lalo was something of a minor composer with a few justly popular compositions. Much can be said of his stage works "Le Roi d'Ys" and Namouna but the Symphonie Espagnole of 1874 is his most popular work. It manages to blend the elements of a symphony and a concerto in the Spanish style typified by Bizet in his opera Carmen. It was first performed by Sarasate in 1875 (the same year as Carmen) and consists of an opening Sonata form Allegro followed by a Pizzicato scherzo and an Intermezzo in ternary form. The lyrical slow movement is more emotionally stretching yet ends tranquilly to be followed by a virtuostic finale in the style of a Habanera. Whereas Lalo used Spanish themes, Bruch made sumptuous use of Scottish themes in his Fantasy, a work that suits the passionate lyricism of Oistrakh's playing.
Beethoven's only concerto for violin was central to Oistrakh's repertoire and he gave it a typically lyrical and sensitive reading. The concerto was first performed by Franz Clement in December 1806 and consists of three movements with a symphonic opening Allegro and a deeply moving Larghetto, all rounded by a jovial Allegro rondo finale. Particularly moving are the two violin Romances, small pieces filled with touching inspiration.
Kabalevsky and Taneyev represent Oistrakh on home ground; the former dates from 1948 and is a simple work composed in a simple but highly lyrical mood with a particularly bitter sweet slow movement ideally interpreted here by Oistrakh. Taneyev's Suite meanwhile draws on echoes of Bach in its five movement form although giving nods along the way to Tchaikovsky, particularly in the lengthy fourth movement, a theme and variations, not unlike the earlier composer's Third Suite.
Prokofiev was a composer particularly close to Oistrakh. His first violin concerto dates from 1914 and is a work of youthful individuality with a particularly felicitous opening. It was first played in Paris in 1923 and soon taken up by the great virtuoso Szigeti. The plan of the work is unusual in that the outer movements are slow in tempo, framing a central technically brilliant Scherzo.
Probably the most often played of Russian violin concertos is that of Tchaikovsky - a particular favourite of Oistrakh's and the choice for his sixtieth birthday concert. This is high Romantic lyricism, drama and a heart on sleeve emotion. With elements of drama in the lengthy opening Allegro, a serene Canzonetta slow movement and a vital dance movement finale, this is Oistrakh at his best.
Oistrakh came late to the Sibelius concerto but made it very much his own, imparting a sense of passionate lyricism to the Finnish composer seldom found elsewhere. Again the work is in three movements and has much in common, at least in Oistrakh's conception, with the Tchaikovsky - a brooding passionate opening movement, serene slow movement and lively finale.
Bartok's first concerto was originally written for the violinist Stefi Geyner, an intimate friend of the composer. In 1911, he issued the work as "Two Portraits - Ideal and Grotesque" but it was not until Geyer's death in 1956 that the work was published as we know it now. The work still seems somehow incomplete but there is little doubt to the quality of the music in the yearning Andante and the subsequent high jinks of the finale.
Szymanowski and Hindemith could hardly be more contrasted, the former writing a meandering and highly perfumed fantasy for violin against orchestra with a luscious main theme and dense chromaticism, the latter writing a somewhat typically astringent piece that was never more beautifully realised than in Oistrakh's performances - something of a miracle of interpretation particularly in the central slow movement.
Apart from the small individual pieces included here, the final three concertos are all by Russian composers of the twentieth century, moving from the conventional lyricism of Glazunov's somewhat outdated concerto, first performed by its dedicatee, the great Leopold Auer in 1905, to the brusque neo classicism (sic) of Stravinsky's 1931 concerto written for Samuel Dushkin. Both are appealing works in their own ways, the Stravinsky taking up the challenges of Bach whereas the Glazunov contents itself with a non too stretching but nevertheless pleasing sub-Tchaikovskian lyricism.
Miaskovsky's D minor concerto is together with his cello concerto one of the composer's most attractive works. It was premiered by Oistrakh in January 1939 and consists of an opening lengthy brooding Allegro which the composer claimed was written in 3 months whereas the following Tchaikovskian slow movement took only two days and the folksy elements which pervade an otherwise serious finale took a mere four days to set down.
All in all, a series of performances to treasure and a fitting memorial to a great artist.
--Dr. David Doughty
CD01
费利克斯·门德尔松 (Felix Mendelssohn), 1809-1847 Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
State Symphony Orchesta of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Kirill Kondrashin
25 X 1949 1. Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, I Allegro molto appassionato 2. Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, II Andante 3. Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, III Allegretto non troppo - Allegro molto vivace
7 IX 1949 4. Dvorak - Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53, I Allegro ma non troppo 5. Dvorak - Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53, II Adagio ma non troppo 6. Dvorak - Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53, III Finale. Allegro giocoso ma non troppo
CD02
季米特里·肖斯塔科维奇 (Dmitri Shostakovich), 1906-1975 Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 99 Violin Concerto No. 2 in C-sharp minor, Op. 129
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchetra with David Oistrakh Conducted by Evgeny Mravinsky 18 XI 1956 1. Shostakovich - Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 99, I Nocturne. Moderato 2. Shostakovich - Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 99, II Scherzo. Allegro 3. Shostakovich - Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 99, III Passacaglia. Andante - IV Burlesque. Allegro con brio
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra with David Oistrakh Conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky 27 IX 1968 4. Shostakovich - Violin Concerto No. 2 in C-sharp minor, Op. 129, I Moderato 5. Shostakovich - Violin Concerto No. 2 in C-sharp minor, Op. 129, II Adagio - Allegro
State Symphony Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Kirill Kondrashin 1 I 1947 1. Lalo - Symphonie Espangnole, I Allegro non troppo 2. Lalo - Symphonie Espangnole, II Scherzo. Allegro molto 3. Lalo - Symphonie Espangnole, III Intermezzo. Allegretto non troppo 4. Lalo - Symphonie Espangnole, IV Andante 5. Lalo - Symphonie Espangnole, V Rondo. Allegro
State Symphony Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky 24 XII 1960 6. Bruch - Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46, I Allegro 7. Bruch - Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46, II Adagio 8. Bruch - Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46, III Finale. Allegro guerriero
CD04
路德维希·凡·贝多芬 (Ludwig van Beethoven), 1770-1827 Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61
State Symphony Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky 25 XII 1962 1. Beethoven - Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61, I Allegro ma non troppo 2. Beethoven - Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61, II Larghetto 3. Beethoven - Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61, III Rondo
路德维希·凡·贝多芬 (Ludwig van Beethoven), 1770-1827 Romance for violin and orchestra No. 1 in G major, Op. 40 Romance for violin and orchestra No. 2 in F major, Op. 40
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky 27 IX 1968 4. Beethoven - Romance for violin and orchestra No. 1 in G major, Op. 40 5. Beethoven - Romance for violin and orchestra No. 2 in F major, Op. 50
CD05
季米特里·卡巴列夫斯基 (Dmitri Kabalevsky), 1904-1987 Violin Concerto in C major, Op. 48
谢尔盖·伊凡诺维奇·塔涅耶夫 (Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev), 1856-1915 Concert Suite for violin & orchestra, Op. 28
Kabalevsky and Taneyev represent Oistrakh on home ground; the former dates from 1948 and is a simple work composed in a simple but highly lyrical mood with a particularly bitter sweet slow movement ideally interpreted here by Oistrakh. Taneyev's Suite meanwhile draws on echoes of Bach in its five movement form although giving nods along the way to Tchaikovsky, particularly in the lengthy fourth movement, a theme and variations, not unlike the earlier composer's Third Suite.
原文:Dr. David Doughty
State Symphony Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Carl Eliasberg 12 V 1949 1. Kabalevsky - Violin Concerto in C major, Op. 48, I Allegro molto e con brio 2. Kabalevsky - Violin Concerto in C major, Op. 48, II Andantino cantabile 3. Kabalevsky - Violin Concerto in C major, Op. 48, III Vivace giocoso
State Symphony Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Kurt Sanderling 20 IX 1960 4. Taneyev - Concert Suite for violin & orchestra, Op. 28, I Prelude 5. Taneyev - Concert Suite for violin & orchestra, Op. 28, II Gavotte 6. Taneyev - Concert Suite for violin & orchestra, Op. 28, III Tema con variazioni 7. Taneyev - Concert Suite for violin & orchestra, Op. 28, IV Fairy tale 8. Taneyev - Concert Suite for violin & orchestra, Op. 28, V Tarantella
CD06
谢尔盖·谢尔盖耶维奇·普罗科菲耶夫 (Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev), 1891-1953 Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Kyrill Kondrashin 7 IX 1963 1. Prokofiev - Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19, I Andantino - Andante assai 2. Prokofiev - Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19, II Scherzo. Vivacissimo 3. Prokofiev - Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19, III Moderato
彼得·伊里奇·柴科夫斯基 (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky), 1840-1893 Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky 27 IX 1968 4. Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, I Allegro moderato 5. Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, II Andante 6. Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, III Allegro vivacissimo
CD07
让·西贝柳斯(Jean Sibelius), 1865-1957 Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky 14 II 1966 1. Sibelius - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47, I Allegro moderato 2. Sibelius - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47, II Adagio di molto 3. Sibelius - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47, III Allegro ma non tanto
巴托克·贝拉 (Béla Bartók), 1881-1945 Violin Concerto No. 1, Sz. 36
State Symphony Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky 24 XII 1960 4. Bartók - Violin Concerto No. 1, Sz. 36, I Andante sostenuso 5. Bartók - Violin Concerto No. 1, Sz. 36, II Allegro giocoso
Szymanowski and Hindemith could hardly be more contrasted, the former writing a meandering and highly perfumed fantasy for violin against orchestra with a luscious main theme and dense chromaticism, the latter writing a somewhat typically astringent piece that was never more beautifully realised than in Oistrakh's performances - something of a miracle of interpretation particularly in the central slow movement.
原文:Dr. David Doughty
State Symphony Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Kurt Sanderling 20 IX 1960 1. Szymanowski - Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35, I Movement 1 2. Szymanowski - Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35, II Movement 2
State Symphony Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky 25 XII 1962 3. Hindemith - Violin Concerto, I Massig bewegte Halbe 4. Hindemith - Violin Concerto, II Langsam 5. Hindemith - Violin Concerto, III Lebhaft
State Symphony Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Kyrill Kondrashin I I 1947 1. Gluzanov - Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 82, Moderato - Andante - Allegro
15 III 1948 2. Chausson - Poeme, for violin and orchestra, Op. 25
State Symphony Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky 24 XII 1960 3. Ravel - Tzigane, rapsodie de concert for violin and orchestra, Op. 76
State Symphony Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Gabril Yudin 25 II 1950 4. Gluaznov - Mazurka-Oberek in D Major for violin and orchestra
CD10
伊戈尔·斯特拉文斯基 (Igor Stravinsky), 1882-1971 Violin Concerto in D major
Miaskovsky's D minor concerto is together with his cello concerto one of the composer's most attractive works. It was premiered by Oistrakh in January 1939 and consists of an opening lengthy brooding Allegro which the composer claimed was written in 3 months whereas the following Tchaikovskian slow movement took only two days and the folksy elements which pervade an otherwise serious finale took a mere four days to set down.
原文:Dr. David Doughty
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Kyrill Kondrashin 8 II 1963 1. Stravinsky - Violin Concerto in D major, I Toccata 2. Stravinsky - Violin Concerto in D major, II Aria I 3. Stravinsky - Violin Concerto in D major, III Aria II 4. Stravinsky - Violin Concerto in D major, IV Capriccio
State Symphony Orchestra of USSR with David Oistrakh Conducted by Alexander Gauk 1 I 1939 5. Miaskovsky - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 44, I Allegro 6. Miaskovsky - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 44, II Adagio molto cantabile 7. Miaskovsky - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 44, III Allegro molto