Deutsche Grammophon - David Oistrakh

January 14, 2004 at 06:28 PM · aaah but the brahms on there is my favorite recording of all I have heard, soaring!

Oistrakh has been my favorite for a long time

January 15, 2004 at 12:17 AM · Mine too. His Tchaik is my favorite. So's his Khachaturian.

January 15, 2004 at 03:04 AM · oistrakh is definetely one of my favorites, i love how consistantly good he is at every piece he plays.

January 15, 2004 at 03:12 AM · Greetings,

William, in my opinion thee thre elegends of violin history were Heifetz, milstein and Oistrakh. At this level, any attenpt to say one is better than the other really is a matter of opinion/choice. Oistrakh has it all in spades; technique, deep musicianship and the fiery passion of a genuine virtuouso.

I have just about everything he recorded that is currently availble and easy to access. There is a lot more bootleg /unreleased stuff in archives in Russia I suppose.

You should be veyr careful when you buy his stuff Some of the orchestras and or recordings are so bad that the pleasure to be gained fron Oistrakhs playing (never less than otherwordly) is heavily marred. If you stick to the big lables you are usually okay, though. The big boxed sets can be the worst offenders.

I just bougth his 10 Beethoven sonatas Oborin (?) and although there may be some greater /more individualistic perfoamces I have conluced that this is the single most musical, technically perfect, profound set over all that money can buy. There are not many players I can listen to five or six sonatas in a row to and not get a little jaded but I can to this one.

The big regret is he never recorded a complete Bach Solo Sonatas.

Cheers,

Buri

January 15, 2004 at 05:03 AM · Thanks for the tips Buri. I was at first suspicious of the quality of the recordings as it was recorded in the late 50s and early 60s in mono. But I'm glad the recording is superbly remastered and sounded wonderful.

I remember when I was studying here in Melbourne few years back, I came accross his biography at the university library, I think the title is David Oistrakh - Conversation with Igor Oistrakh.

After finishing the book, I went everywhere to get one for myself but unfortunately it was out of print. I should have stick with his recordings since but was drawn away by Menuhin, Perlman, Shaham and a few others.

I'm glad I found my way back to Oistrakh.

January 15, 2004 at 06:32 PM · igor wasn't bad either, i have his mozart sonatas.

January 15, 2004 at 07:06 PM · Wasn't? Still isn't! Saw him last year play the Mendelssohn and Beethoven concerti beautifully.

Carl.

January 16, 2004 at 04:12 AM · he sounds a lot like his pappy huh? not that thats a bad thing by any means.

January 18, 2004 at 12:02 AM · William, just listen to oistrakh's shostakovich recordings and see what you think!

January 18, 2004 at 07:55 AM · Igor Oistrakh may be a wonderful violinist, but he doesn't exactly have that warm, modest personality his father had. Both terrific players, although I prefer David Oistrakh by a long shot.

January 18, 2004 at 01:26 PM · Mr. David Oistrakh was a great violinist! We all can still learn from his love for music. He had to fight so many things in his life, and still kept his warm personality with him. He reminds us that music is the important thing, not just playing some notes. I prefer him over Heifetz for many reasons. His music is just so much attractive (to me, that is)! I think anything he recorded is worth a good listening, with an open heart. He always speak to your heart !

August 21, 2008 at 02:58 AM · ^that is why he is my favorite violinist

August 21, 2008 at 12:37 PM · There are works that IMHO,nobody had played better than DFO:

Khatchaturian v.c. - Miaskovsky v.c. - Glazunoff v.c. - Lalo - Franck v.s. - Medtner "Epique" v.s.- Prokofieff v.c. -Prokofieff second v.s. -Karen Khatchaturian v.s.op.1 - Brahms third v.s.-Mozart fifth v.s. (with Kondrashin) - Taneyev concert suite - Catoire - Rakov firstv.c. Mozart concertante with Igor - Ysaye third solo v.s. Brahms double with Fournier

And more..

August 21, 2008 at 01:25 PM · My favorite recording ever (and I have 70 GB of pure classical music) has to be Oistrakh playing the Tchaikovsky concerto with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. I think the recording took place in the late 70's or early 80's. Absolutely nothing beats it!

August 21, 2008 at 05:52 PM · Hmm, poor David died in 1974, the Tchaikovsky was recorded in the early 60ies..

BTW, his 100th anniversary will be celebrated in November, and DGG is issuing a box of his concertos and solo recordings. But the big chunk to swallow will be a 17cd box, due for september in Europe, with all the recordings he made for EMI..and at a very competitive price (around 50$). Even cheaper are the 2 Brillant boxes already available, although the sound quality is sometimes extremely poor.

DOREMI has been building up an impressive collection over the years, with 11 volumes already issued of mostly live recordings (or early studio performances). Vol 11 features the 10 Beethoven sonatas recorded live with Oborin in Paris..Interesting to compare with the couple of sonatas recorded with Richter (vol 10).

Carlos, I vote with you for Oistrakh in russian concertos and sonatas, but his Symphonie espagnole or Brahms sonatas meet some serious competition from Milstein,Huberman, Heifetz, Kogan, Francescatti...

August 21, 2008 at 10:57 PM · Daniel, thanks for letting us know about the EMI box set

http://www.amazon.com/David-Oistrakh-Complete-EMI-Recordings/dp/B001ASVXSE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1219359408&sr=1-1

August 22, 2008 at 12:15 AM · Daniel: It´s true that Lalo has been recorded

maybe a hundred times, and there were splendid versions (Heifetz,Francescatti,Menuhim,Bobescu etc,) But DFO-Kondrashin (1948) is my favorite.

August 22, 2008 at 12:26 AM · Thanks to Daniel for the heads up and also to Chris for posting the link!

August 22, 2008 at 02:11 AM · You are so excited by your discovery! Are you aware of this book?

David Oistrakh : Conversations with Igor Oistrakh by Viktor Aronovich Yuzefovich

Shar also has DVDs of his playing.