Brahms - Violin Concerto; Violin Sonata No. 3

George Szell - Cleveland Orchestra

David Oistrakh: violin
Vladimir Yampolsky: piano

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 318 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 78 mb
Artwork @ 300dpi = 12 mb

Total playing time: 65:05

Recorded:
13, 16 May 1969 Severance Hall, Cleveland, stereo (concerto)
19 May 1955, Salle Colonialle, Brussels, mono (sonata)

Released 2003

EMI Classics 7243 5 67973 2 1

Track listing:
1. Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77 - I. Allegro non troppo (Cadenza by Joachim)
2. Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77 - II. Adagio
3. Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77 - III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace
4. Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108 - I. Allegro
5. Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108 - II. Adagio
6. Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108 - III. Un poco presto e con sentimento
7. Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108 - IV. Presto agitato

Reviews:
Classicstoday
Believe it or not, this reissue marks the first time David Oistrakh's 1969 Brahms Concerto with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra appears on CD (not counting a hard-to-find Japanese edition). The violinist's interpretation does not markedly differ from his earlier EMI account with Klemperer at the helm; in fact, the tempos vary by mere seconds. Oistrakh's passionate phrasing and warm tone are all you could wish for in the first movement, with no shortage of delicacy and repose in response to Brahms' tranquillo indications. His broad and rustic approach to the finale remains intact, if slightly heavier-gaited (the quicksilver arpeggios aren't so effortlessly dispatched). Szell's customary discipline and chamber-like balances handsomely pay off. Note, for instance, the unusual clarity of the repeated 16th-note figures prior to the violinist's dramatic entrance in the first movement, or the Adagio's exquisitely balanced woodwind chording. The elemental power of Klemperer's darker-hued orchestral framework, however, holds special allure in its own right. And though the Oistrakh/Szell boasts leaner, more updated sonics, I prefer the earlier recording's more egalitarian soloist/orchestra balances.

Oistrakh's only studio version of the same composer's D minor Op. 108 sonata fills out the disc: a 1958 mono recording that easily holds its own as a performance alongside the violinist's better-known live reading with Sviatoslav Richter. Here Oistrakh is miked too close for realism, while Vladimir Yampolsky's virile, dynamic support sounds as if the piano was positioned at least 10 feet from the violinist. These considerations, however, don't detract in the least from Oistrakh's timeless artistry.

Gramophone
"There is now scarcely any need to write about Oistrakh's performance of the Brahms Concerto, combining as it does such complete command of technique with deep maturity of interpretation, nor of Szell's particular gift as an accompanist, so that one need only say that both are in the finest form here."

Musicweb
Only a few things to say about this entirely apt, not to say indispensable, addition to the GROC series. The concerto is well known to long-standing collectors and can without hesitation be selected the sole version in your library if you need to ration yourself. The tonal range of David Oistrakh (30 September 1908 - 23 October 1974) is wide indeed and splendid in its radiance, accentuated virtuosity and glowering power. He conspires with Szell in a performance about which not once do you have cause to feel that this is in sleep-mode. The performance is of astounding orchestral unanimity (listen to the end of the first movement) as you would expect from the ferocious Szell. Ferocity, yes, but listen also to the plaintive vulnerable oboe at the start of the slow movement. Be reassured that Szell could cozen poetry from his furnace-drilled orchestra when required.

Vladimir (Volodya) Yampolsky (1905-1965) accompanies Oistrakh in the Brahms Op. 108 sonata. Yampolsky worked with Oistrakh from 1946 until 1961. If you know the name Yampolsky it is probably because his son Victor, the conductor, has made several recordings for Naxos. Oistrakh scales everything down for the sonata which proceeds briskly and temperately by comparison with the furies that grip the Oistrakh version on the Concerto.

Oistrakh was born David Kolker in Odessa and took the name 'Oistrakh' from his musician stepfather. In the 1930s he made his debuts outside the USSR - Budapest, Vienna and Prague. The war and political conditions restricted his and our chances to hear him but the early 1950s liberated him to travel to the USA and UK. His reputation preceded him as did that of Rostropovich and to a lesser extent Daniil Shafran. Soon he was making many recordings both sides of what was, in those days, known as the 'Iron Curtain'.

Rewarding, freshly produced notes by Tully Potter in which he has taken real trouble to make this a true marriage of information on Oistrakh and Brahms.

This is Oistrakh in full flow and caught in the splendour of his long-sustained high noon.


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