A musical portrait of the German Romantic composer: Bruch placed great emphasis on melody and expression, remaining stylistically rather traditional-even as the music around him was changing dramatically. In addition to orchestral works, he also composed choral and chamber music.

This is the complete video release of Brahms' chamber music with several reference recordings. Moreover, the 16 hours of SD-quality video materials presented here on a single Blu-ray disc are equivalent to about eight standard DVD releases. This edition features great performances by today's most outstanding artists showcasing their thrilling artistry in inimitable performances. A must for any Brahms aficionado!

[K.219] (his) innate musicality shone through... (he) should be heard if you don't mind a much fuller tone in Mozart... distinguished by the beautiful phrasing of David Oistrakh, very sympathetically supported by the Dresden Orchestra and Konwitschny." (Gramophone); [K.218] "very romantic... a legendary violinist at his absolute peak, recorded in better sound than possible then in his own country and sympathetically supported" [K454] "a warmly cosseted account of Mozart's great B flat Sonata, with Yampolsky providing trim pianistic support." (Gramophone)

you can't go wrong with Oistrakh's pre-authenticity Mozart. True, this is big-boned, dyed in the wool Mozart, 1960's style. Tempi are relaxed, textures quite heavy and the ethos masculine and robust... subtle shadings are there - but the prevailing spirit is strong-limbed engagement. K216 was always one of his best pieces of Mozart playing... he also contributes his own, rather good, cadenzas... second movement characteristically expressive and full of the artist's noble warmth, and a spirit of romance enlivens the finale. Sinfonia Concertante opens at a real maestoso-qualified Allegro. Directed from the viola by Barshai... once again, there's real affection in the Andante and the finale is nicely buoyant (MusicWeb)

the Piano Quintet does full justice to the densely packed chords and widely spaced spread of sound which Weinberg avowedly learnt from his mentor Shostakovich. It is engaging, expertly written and played with great address by the composer himself... To survive so much terror and retain such creative energy compels admiration. The Quintet may seem more rewarding for the surprising range of invention (eg. Wild Irish fiddle). The performance is admirable. ... Shostakovich declared how impressed he was with the Violin Concerto 'splendidly interpreted by the violinist-Communist L. Kogan' (a tart reference to Kogan's politics. ) This must be an authoritative performance... Kogan deals magnificently with a violin part that is seldom silent... Not surprisingly, Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes carries suggestions of the Enescu of the Romanian Rhapsodies. It receives a splendidly vigorous performance by Oistrakh (Gramophone)

David Oistrakh captured the hearts of listeners with his impeccable technique, rich tone and emotional power. Born in Odessa, he graduated from Conservatory aged 18 and a year later performed his debut with the Glazunov concerto under the composer's baton. Successful debuts in Leningrad and Moscow followed. His New York debut was 1955 and his entire career was full of searingly memorable performances with major worldwide orchestras and accompanists.

(contains EMI's Great Recordings collection plus 6 more !) "the playing itself is certainly as beautiful as one could imagine, with good balance on the stereo between violin and piano." (Gramophone) "the kind of favourites that flecked his concerts with such consistent beauty. The subtlety of his vibrato usage and the sophistication he employs bring their own very true rewards. As indeed does the certain tristesse he finds in the final bars - unusually so." (MusicWeb)

Szymanowski is among the most exciting of twentieth century composers... a highly individual style which owes nothing to anyone... Try the first few bars of this recording; I should be surprised if you wanted to (stop) before the end... his early sonata, has many signs of that strange genius... It's melodies, like it's structural features, allow a highly personal rather than nationalistic flavour, in this very well recorded performance... "Oistrakh's superbly poised and eloquent performance of the Hindemith Concerto... when a great artist does take up a modern work, what a difference it makes!... this is a really outstanding violin concerto - one of the finest of our time; and exquisitely beautiful at times." (Gramophone)

This is DOREMI's 11th volume featuring rare recordings by David Oistrakh (1908-1974), the most loved and admired violinist of all time. Here he is with the great pianist Lev Oborin (1907-1974). Oborin was the 1st prize winner of the first Chopin competition in Warsaw (1927). Aram Khachaturian dedicated to him his famous piano concerto of 1936. Oborin began his close artistic collaboration with Oistrakh in 1935. Their long association in concerts and recordings, as duo partners and in the David Oistrakh Trio, lasted throughout their lives. The complete set of Beethoven violin sonatas presented here is a set of LIVE PERFORMANCES given by David Oistrakh and Lev Oborin in Paris in 1962. It is not the studio recording of the Beethoven sonatas they made in the same year and which was released by Philips and other labels. This live set is marked by its superior, highly intense music making and a magic appeal that makes it clearly preferable to the one made in the studio.

Even four decades after his death, violinist David Oistrakh commands the highest admiration among fans, critics, and other performers as one of the most loved and admired musicians of all time. This is DOREMI’s sixth volume featuring David Oistrakh’s recordings and live broadcasts for the first time in digital and compact disc format. The recordings on the present release were made in 1945 and 1948, but have been digitally remastered to achieve optimal sound quality. The featured works are compositions by Tchaikovsky, which show Oistrakh’s versatile programming and technical skill. He is joined by the USSR Symphony Orchestra for the Serenade Melancholique for Violin and Orchestra, and by pianist Vladimir Yampolsky on the Meditation for Violin and Piano in D minor.

DAVID OISTRAKH COLLECTION, VOL. 13 • David Oistrakh (vn); Vladimir Yampolsky (pn) • DOREMI 7950, mono (70:19) Live: Paris 1/21/1959; Los Angeles, 1965 1


TARTINI Violin Sonata in g, “Didone abbandonata.” FRANCK Violin Sonata. SCHUMANN (arr. Kreisler) Fantasia in C. RAVEL Tzigane. BACH Violin Sonata No. 2 in a: Andante 1


DOREMI’s 13th volume dedicated to David Oistrakh combines what seems to be a complete recital with Vladimir Yampolsky from 1959 with a quasi-encore, the third movement from Bach’s Second Solo Violin Sonata, from 1965. The recital program opens with Tartini’s “Didone abbandonata,” a work that Oistrakh recorded for Melodiya, along with the “Devil’s Trill,” with Frida Bauer in 1970. Oistrakh sounded magisterial from the first measure of the first movement; but he didn’t pause to wring sentiment from the sprightly second movement, nor did he play the final Allegro commodo (he interposed an extraneous Largo in B? Major—published with the other movements—as was common at the time) in such a way as to suggest the pathos of Virgil’s tragedy. Nevertheless, his performance strikes a balance between expressivity and objectivity, an intoxicating antidote to the tendency to deprive this Sonata of Tartini’s hallmark vitality. Throughout his career, Tartini progressively dispensed with the heavily worked-out figured bass, and some have suggested that even the skeletal version of the bass that’s left in the “Devil’s Trill” could simply be omitted. So it’s perhaps no criticism to mention that Oistrakh dominates Yampolsky in this work.


DOREMI’s series reveals Oistrakh’s commitment to chamber music as well as his willingness to “sink the individual,” and his performance of Franck’s Sonata illustrates both of these attitudes. Yampolsky may not have possessed the dynamism of Sviatoslav Richter, three of his live performances of the work with whom from the mid 1960s have been available from time to time (he made studio performances with Oborin in 1950 and with Yampolsky in 1954); but Oistrakh, though the dominant partner, didn’t run roughshod over his frequent accompanist. Testament has released a live performance by the duo from the preceding year (9/20/1958) in Bucharest (1442); this one seems more given to subtlety and nuance.


The Bucharest recital also included Schumann’s Fantasia, which Oistrakh seems never to have recorded in the studio, and Ravel’s Tzigane , which he did (with Kondrashin and the USSR State Symphony Orchestra, a solid performance, the recorded sound of which still seemed more than acceptable in the mid 1960s, when it appeared on LP as Monitor MC 2073). In Bucharest, Oistrakh projected a strong individuality as well as a captivating (and in the last pages, downright scintillating) virtuosity through both Schumann’s work and Kreisler’s arrangement, and he did so as well in his performance in Paris. Oistrakh spits out the passages on the high G string in Ravel’s opening cadenza. Oistrakh didn’t play the Tzigane with Francescatti’s arch wit nor with Heifetz’s white-hot intensity, but his performances generally could serve as models of Gypsy excess rationally moderated. In this reading, he explores the beginning of the accompanied section almost tentatively before throwing himself into the spiky passagework. This performance, perhaps more than the others, creates an atmosphere suggesting a Gypsy campfire—or at least the reflection of one on the wall of a French drawing room.


Since so few examples of Oistrakh playing Bach’s solo sonatas or partitas have become available (DOREMI 7760 included a complete performance of the First Solo Sonata, 24:6), every stray movement should be particularly welcome to collectors. If his live performance of the Andante from the Second Sonata communicates an impression of strength rather than of subtlety; Oistrakh demonstrates through his deployment of a wide dynamic range just how tall an edifice he could erect with this movement’s building materials.


The recorded sound from Paris (air-checks?) balances the instruments fairly well; and, while it may not be particularly lively, communicates adequately a sense of Oistrakh’s sound, at once oleaginous and fibrous. In an interview, Yehudi Menuhin noted that Oistrakh fused control with abandon, and he appears to have struck a different balance from performance to performance, even those close in temporal proximity. That’s why it’s easy to recommend this recital strongly, despite its similarity in content to the one Testament has released.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham