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 fourteenth volume featuring David Oistrakh’s recordings and live broadcasts for the first time in digital and compact disc format. It includes live concerts which Oistrakh performed in Sweden between 1970 and 1974. The Haydn Sinfonia Concertante, Stenhammer violin sonata, and Aulin Berceuse are the only known performances of David Oistrakh on record.

The year 2015 marks the 100th birthday anniversary of one of the greatest classical pianists of all time. On this new volume of the Richter Archives series, most items are on CD for the first time.

Flutist Robert Aitken and harpsichordist Greta Kraus were active as a world-renowned duo. They made many fine recordings of mostly baroque and the early classical era. Each artist had an impressive solo career in addition to their duo work, and the couple were not only known for their impressive performances, but also for their dedication to pedagogue and education. Presented on this new release from DOREMI are 3 J.S. Bach Sonatas recorded in 1979, and a Partita recorded in 1969 captured here in superb audiophile quality. Also included is a scintillating performance of CPE Bach's Flute Concerto in D, recorded in concert in Vancouver in 1981 by Robert Aitken and conductor John Eliot Gardiner.

Leonard Rose is without a doubt one of the most prominent cellists and pedagogues of the twentieth century. After completing his schooling at Philadelphia’s Curtis Insitute of Music, he joined the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini and almost immediately became associate principal. At 21 he became principal of the Cleveland Orchestra, and just five years later principal of the New York Philharmonic. All of the tracks on this release are recordings from live performances or live broadcasts, dating from the peak of his career between the years 1961 and 1973. He performs alongside other well-known names such as Nadia Reisenberg and Eugene Istomin.

Of Armenian heritage, Manoug Parikian was born on September 15, 1927 in Mersin, Turkey. After studies in England, he d�buted as a soloist in 1947. In the course of his career, he was concertmaster of London's famed Philharmonia Orchestra and also held that post with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the English Opera Group Orchestra and the Yorkshire Sinfonia. In addition, he directed the Manchester Camerata and often performed at the Aldeburgh Festival. As a soloist, he was particularly noted for his magnificent interpretation of Mozart. Parikian also dedicated himself to the performance of contemporary violin concertos and several leading British composers wrote concertos for him. Parikian was an acclaimed teacher at the Royal Academy of Music for many years. He passed away on Christmas Eve, 1987. On the day of his death, the BBC broadcast a performance by him in the Antonio Stradivari Gala Celebration. Parikian was an outstanding musician and violinist. He was a great inspiration to other violinists and had great integrity and a marvelous ability to adapt and change style from one composer to another.

Born in Dresden in 1926, Wolfgang Marschner, a remarkable violinist, composer, conductor, and teacher, comes from a distinguished musical family. One of his ancestors was Heinrich Marschner (1795-1861), the most important composer of German opera between Weber and Wagner. At four, Wolfgang attended the Staatskapelle Dresden orchestra school. Five years later, he made his debut performing Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata. At fourteen, he entered the Mozarteum in Salzburg, where his composition, Divertimento for String Quartet was premiered. At seventeen, in the midst of the Second World War, he was conscripted into the army. He resumed his studies after the war with Erich Rohn (concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic). He commenced his career with the Hanover Opera House Orchestra, as the concertmaster, soloist and second conductor. More engagements followed with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Dresden Staatskapelle. At 21, he was named concertmaster of the Cologne WDR Orchestra where he was the soloist in the German premiere of Walton's Violin Concerto, and conducted Oscar Straus' operetta, Ein Waltzertraum. He devoted himself to performing the Schoenberg and Berg Violin Concertos and premiered chamber works and violin concertos by Luigi Nono, Winfried Zillig, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Bernd Alois Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Eduard Steuermann and Igor Stravinsky. He is equally prolific as a composer of several symphonies, concertos, chamber and solo violin works. Marschner became a professor at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen at 26, he later taught at the Cologne Musikhochschule. He has been a guest teacher in Tokyo and has given masterclasses all over the world. He founded the Deutsche Spohr Akademie masterclasses and the Marschner Festival Hinterzarten in the Black Forest. He was a juror in many competitions and established the Jacobus Stainer and the Louis Spohr International Violin Competitions.

Emil Gilels was born in Odessa on October 19, 1916. At five, he began to take lessons from Yakov Tkach. Gilels development was astonishingly rapid and by twelve, he had mastered Chopin's etudes. He gave his first public performance in 1929. The following year he was accepted to the Odessa Conservatory in the class of Berta Reingbald. Under her tutelage, Gilels blossomed. When Arthur Rubinstein came to Odessa in the early 1930s, he predicted that young Emil would one day eclipse them all. Gilels entered the first "All Union Competition" (1933), which he won unanimously. He then toured the Soviet Union and was acclaimed as the standard-bearer of a "new" Soviet pianism. In 1935 he moved to Moscow and entered the class of the legendary pianist and pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus. At the start of 1936, Gilels performed Beethoven's third piano concerto with Otto Klemperer. Two years later, he took part in the "International Brussels Competition." The jury, numbering such luminaries as Leopold Stokowski, Otto Klemperer, Walter Gieseking, Emil von Sauer, Carlo Zecchi, Robert Casadesus and Samuil Feinberg, awarded him first prize. It was planned that he set forth on a long tour, including of the United States, but these were scotched by the Second World War. Throughout the war, Gilels performed all over the country. Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto was a staple of his repertoire. When the war ended, he toured Europe and in 1955, became the first Soviet musician to tour the United States. Until his death in 1985, Emil Gilels continued to perform and record widely. He is universally acclaimed as one of the greatest pianists of all time. We are honored to present here live performances of two of his sterling concerto performances.

Isaac Stern's career as a solo artist, chamber musician, and much else (he led the movement to save Carnegie hall) was remarkable. This album of his live performances is an eloquent testament to his musical insights, technical command and his gorgeous, luminous tone. Isaac Stern was born in 1920, in Krimieniecz, now in Ukraine. A year later his parents came to San Francisco. Violin lessons began at eight, with Naoum Blinder. Two years later he made his debut, playing Bach double concerto with his teacher. His Town Hall debut in 1937 was followed by a Carnegie Hall debut in 1943. He was the first American artist to tour the former Soviet Union-and as a result became a deeply respected figure there. The campaign to save Carnegie Hall began in 1960. The Six-Day War of 1967 saw his iconic performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Leonard Bernstein on Mount Scopus. His involvement with Hollywood, which began in 1948 with his performance in the film Humoresque, was followed up in 1971, when he played on the soundtrack of "Fiddler on the Roof". His travel to China in 1979 led to a resurgence of classical music in that country, documented in "From Mao to Mozart". He recorded prolifically and received countless honors and tributes. Isaac Stern passed away at the age of 81 in 2001.

When Julian Olevksy made his first tour of the Orient in 1959, the Tokyo Shinbun declared him to be "the most exciting violinist to appear in Japan next to Heifetz and Oistrakh" - to which his remarkable performances on this album of violin concertos by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Wieniawski and Lalo bear eloquent witness. Julian Olevsky was born in Berlin on May 7, 1926. The son of a professional violinist, he began his studies at 7. In 1935, mindful of the growing danger in Germany, the family moved to Buenos Aires. He made his recital debut at 10 and his orchestral debut at 12 in Buenos Aires under the baton of Fritz Busch. In 1947 he immigrated to the United States. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s he performed widely, touring and appearing with the finest world orchestras. He recorded extensively for the American label Westminster. Olevsky had a distinguished career as a teacher as well. In 1967 he was appointed Resident Artist and subsequently Professor of Violin at the University of Massachusetts. Olevsky died in Amherst on May 25, 1985. The eminent violin critic Henry Roth, in his survey of the great violinists said of him that he was "a brilliant virtuoso, a fine tonalist with glowing temperament and a tasteful musician and stylist." The complete Symphonie espagnole, including the 3rd movement "Intermezzo", was recorded by Julian Olevsky at the recording sessions. However, the Westminster LP of Lalo's Symphonie espagnole did not include it. Many recordings made in that era by other top ranking violinists, such as Huberman, Elman, Heifetz, Francescatti, Milstein and Grumiaux (2 recordings), also omitted the intermezzo. It is now added here as originally recorded by Olevsky, presenting the complete 5 movements version - for the very first time.

This release is the first volume in the DOREMI series of Theo Olof recordings. Theo Olof was born in Bonn, Germany on May 5, 1924. The family fled Nazi Germany in 1933 and settled in Holland. At age 11, young Theo made a solo appearance with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Bruno Walter. In 1951 he became a prizewinner of the International Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition in Brussels and was appointed as co-leader of the Hague Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1974 and until 1985, he was the leader of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Alongside his position in the orchestra, Olof was successfully active as a soloist, chamber musician and a teacher. Olof has made many outstanding recordings including two recordings of Mozart Violin concerto No. 5, two recordings of Bach double concerto (both with Herman Krebbers), and the violin concertos by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Maderna, Britten, Henkemans, Badings, Kox, Pijper, Keuris, van Delden, van Vlijmen, Rawsthorne, Vivaldi and Nardini. He also recorded violin sonatas, by Bach, Handel, Mozart, Brahms, Franck, Debussy, Ravel, Faure, Grieg and Janacek, Theo Olof died in Amsterdam on October 9, 2012, aged 88.

This release is the second volume in DOREMI's exploration of the recordings of Devy Erlih. Born in Paris on November 5, 1928 to a musical family, Moldovan Jewish immigrants, young Devy was soon recognized as an outstanding talented prodigy. The family made it through the WW II German Occupation and after the war Erlih continued his studies. He won the coveted Paris conservatoire Premier Prix and his career as violin soloist began. In 1955 Erlih won the International Long-Thibaud competition and subsequently toured throughout Europe, America and Japan. In addition to his vast standard classical repertoire, he became a champion of contemporary composers including Bartok, Jolivet, Dutilleux, Martinu, Milhaud, Sauguet, Maderna, Ropartz, Tomasi, LeJet, Jacque Charpentier, Denisov, Julien Falk, Paul Le Flem, Loucheur. Many composers wrote concertos or sonatas for him. Erlih was also a noted teacher and was on staff at the Paris Conservatoire. In 2010 he was the president of the Jury in the Long-Thibaud competition. Devy Erlih died in Paris in a road accident on February 7, 2012. He combined the raw gipsy music styles of his Balkan heritage with the refined elegance of the French violin school and his recordings are highly sought after by collectors.

Vasso Devetzi (1927-1987) was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. She first performed in public at age seven. Her international career began in Paris when she played the Schumann Piano Concerto under Albert Wolff. Subsequently, she performed throughout the world with leading orchestras, from Athens to Brussels, Rio to Helsinki, and Stockholm to Zagreb. Devetzi was a close friend of Mikis Theodorakis and Maria Callas. She lived for long periods in the 1960s and 70s in the former Soviet Union, where she often collaborated in concerts with Rudolf Barshai, David Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya. Born in the former Soviet Union, Rudolf Barshai (1924-2010) was a renowned violist and conductor. As a violist, he appeared with Sviatoslav Richter and David Oistrakh and was in a trio with Mstislav Rostropovich and Leonid Kogan. His conducting career began with his founding of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. Under Barshai, they became world famous and have made numerous recordings. After his emigration to Israel in 1977, he directed the Israel Chamber Orchestra. Subsequent conducting posts included the Vancouver Symphony, the National Orchestra of France and the Bournemouth Symphony. In addition, he was a permanent guest conductor with many orchestras throughout the world. The present album features this duo performing the works of JS Bach.

The great Russian American violinist Albert Markov was born in 1933 in Kharkov, Ukraine. Among his teachers was Yuri Yankelevich (1909-1973) who was the teacher of other leading violinists, among them Leonid Kogan, Vladimir Spivakov, Nelli Shkolnikova and Victor Tretyakov. Markov was the second prize winner at the 1959 International Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition in Brussels, the year that Jamie Laredo was the first and Joseph Silverstein was the third. Following his winning, Markov embarked on an extensive solo career and in 1975, emigrated to the USA. He has appeared as soloist with many leading orchestras under such conductors as Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Kurt Sanderling, Kirill Kondrashin, James Conlon, Neeme Jarvi, David Zinman, Andrew Litton, Lukas Foss, Sixten Ehrling, Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Sergiu Comissiona and Sir Charles Groves. Albert Markov is an outstanding musician, praised by critics around the world for his beautifully warm silky tone and for his dazzling virtuosity. He is also a noted composer of many works for violin, violin and orchestra, chamber works, one symphony and three operas. Markov's son, Alexander Markov, is also a well-known virtuoso violinist and the two have frequently appeared together. In recent years, Albert Markov has also become a highly respected violin pedagog. He published several violin instruction and performing analysis books. Since 1981 he has taught in the Manhattan School of Music. The items on the set are taken from Albert Markov's Melodiya recordings made in the late 1950's and early 1960's.

The Trio A Cordes Fran�ais was founded in 1959 by violinist G�rard Jarry (1936-2004), violist Serge Collot (1923-2015), and cellist Michel Tournus (1922-2006), and was active for over thirty years. They toured the world and made many notable recordings. At the age of fourteen, G�rard Jarry gained a Premier Grand Prix at the 1951 Concours Long-Thibaud. In addition to his many years performing with the Trio, he was concertmaster of the Orchestre de Chambre Jean-Fran�ois Paillard, and a noted soloist. He was also a professor of violin at the Conservatoire de Paris. Serge Collot studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Maurice Vieux, one of the greatest viola virtuosos. Graduating with a Premier Prix in 1944, he had a long and distinguished career as a chamber musician. As well as his long tenure with the Trio, he was principal violist with the Orchestre de l'Opera National de Paris from 1957 to 1986, and also was a member of several string quartets - the Parrenin, the Radiodiffusion Francaise, and the Bern�de. He was particularly influential in encouraging the composition of contemporary works for viola by such composers as Boulez and Berio. Like his colleague Jarry, he was professor of viola at Conservatoire de Paris for many years. Michel Tournus gained Premiers Prix in cello and in chamber music from the Conservatoire de Paris. Like his colleagues, he was also a member of several other chamber ensembles, including the Quatuor Indig and the Octuor de Paris. Like Collot, he was first cello with the Orchestre de l'Opera National de Paris. Active as a teacher at the Conservatoire de Musique de Versailles, and was the author of a cello method. This set contains many of the Trio A Cordes Fran�ais' recordings of Mozart.

Menahem Pressler was born in 1923 in Magdeburg, Germany. In 1938 he emigrated to Israel, where he received most of his musical training. His career was launched following winning of the first prize at the Debussy International Piano Competition in San Francisco in 1946. His successful American debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy was followed by tours of North America and Europe, including performances with the New York Philharmonic, as well as Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Dallas, San Francisco, London, Paris, Brussels, Oslo and Helsinki Orchestras. In 1955 Menahem Pressler founded the Beaux Arts Trio with violinist Daniel Guilet and cellist Bernard Greenhouse. The Trio, (with a few 'turnovers' in the strings) continued for more than 50 years and was one of the most prominent and respected chamber groups of all time. Pressler is a piano professor at Indiana University in Bloomington and is a regular on juries of international piano competitions such as the Van Cliburn, Queen Elizabeth, and Arthur Rubinstein competitions. He is one of the world's most revered chamber musicians. His collaborations included many engagements with the Juilliard, Emerson, Guarneri and Cleveland String Quartets. Most of these Mozart and Beethoven recordings, made c. 1966-68, are here heard on modern recordings for the first time.